Acts of Retribution-Chapter I

Many thanks to VaguelyFamiliar and Jesra Winsu for the amazing beta reads.

Coruscant

Temple courtyard

The cobblestones of the courtyard shone with chips of mica that even the last sudden rainfall could not dispel. Patches of damp steamed in the abrupt heat; small whirls of vapour issued from their porous surface, soaking into the already humid air.

Lonna Vash walked across towards the large fountain that dominated the oval courtyard, her long brown robe caressing the moist ground. She held her hands together in front of her, while her eyes stared sightlessly at the ripples forming in the pool that encircled the large fountain. Droplets tinkled musically from lofty layered tiers, swirling into the rain infused waters that washed coldly in the enamelled jade basins.

The distant hum of shuttles ferrying their cargos of sentient life was an afterthought in this place of tranquillity and meditation. The woman tilted her head, listening to the multitude of voices that carried their messages of vibrancy through the Force. She sighed. To feel the force and the vitality of life was to know that you were truly alive, a part of the greater whole. Lonna allowed herself a small, sad smile. How would it feel to be cut off from that, to be denied the most basic concept of one of the Jedi Order? It was something that was beyond comprehension-yet it had already happened to one Jedi. But how could you live with yourself, walk the path, yet not be able to feel, to sense this most basic belief? Lonna pondered the thought, but she knew that she had no answer to the question that prickled her uneasy consciousness.

The spatter of warm rain against her cheek woke her from her thoughts. She glanced ahead of her and, with a sudden stirring of empathy, turned her thoughts to the task at hand. The Jedi Anya Sair had returned to them, and was waiting in the temporary chambers that had been allocated to her. Vash had just returned from her unannounced meeting with the young woman, and the visit had left her feeling somewhat perturbed for reasons that she did not want too examine closely.

Of all the Jedi that had followed Revan to war, she was the only one to return to face the council. Lonna wondered if it was a foolhardy pride that had made her return. Or was it that she was truly repentant for her actions in the Mandalorian wars? She hoped that one of these was the motive for Anya's return, though she suspected otherwise.

One hour. That was all that was left before Anya would meet her sentence. Lonna knew that all boded ill. Several of the masters were already decided in their judgement, Vrook and Atris most of all. She wondered if they were letting past influences cloud their judgement, but she dispelled the thought instantly. If anything, the Order was always fair in its judgement. Still, the vehemence that Atris bore was worrying. Of all the masters, she was the one that had been closest to Anya, and it was she that had been hurt the most by the young woman's decision to go to war.

Lonna wondered if there was something that the keeper of the libraries was hiding. Relationships within the Order were tolerated, but not encouraged. The notion of members forming such attachments was a constant source of anxiety. To love, to hold dear to another in the eyes of the Order was to leave yourself open to the lure of the dark side.

But if Atris was trying to conceal her improper feelings, then that was something that Lonna understood all too well.

Vrook Lamar's private chambers

'She defied us, Kavar!' Vrook paced the floor of his chamber in barely contained irritation.

The young Jedi master sighed wearily, and rubbed his hand across the slight blonde stubble that grew on his chin. Vrook had already decided Anya's fate in less than four words. Guilty, as condemned.

'I do not think that you are looking at this clearly, my friend,' he said with a patience that he strove to feel.

The elder Jedi glared at him. "That has always been your problem." He shook his head, "You're too soft on the students."

'No, you are wrong. You hold reign over them with a rod of iron.' Kavar grimaced as he saw the look that the older man shot him, but went on. 'You have always been unyielding to them. They need guidance, tutoring in a manner that is not restrictive to their growth in the...'

'You saw how she went willingly to war.' Vrook gazed out of the long oblong window that filled the far wall of the room, his eyes hooded and unreadable, his voice low and brusque. 'She followed Revan willingly, as did many others. We have lost enough to this damned war.'

Kavar rose from his seat, his hands shoving the restrictive master's robe from his thighs as he strode across the room to where Vrook stood impatiently. 'At least she came back to face us, to seek what punishment her defiance has caused. I see that as a step forwards.'

'I disagree.'

'But it is the truth. Are you afraid of what she has to say? Her reasons for going to war? I think that we should hear her out. She deserves that.'

Vrook laughed, the sound flat and emotionless. 'You would say that, Kavar. After all, you sought out war yourself.'

The younger man turned away from Vrook's unflinching stare, and cast his eyes across the room. 'This is about Anya, not me,' he reminded Vrook.

'She was always impossible,' the older man muttered as he turned from Kavar and faced back towards the window. 'Even at the academy, she would lead the more impressionable youngsters, swaying them with words and her nonsensical beliefs.'

'You were always too stern with her Vrook,' Kavar said, watching as a scarlet flush spread across Vrooks face.

'You blame me for this?'

Kavar's eyes flashed as he met Vrooks gaze. 'I did not say that. She was...'

'Weak," Vrook replied derisively. 'She was nothing more than a mediocre student. Her lack of prowess with the Force, her inability to grasp even the simplest of tasks made her a difficult pupil.'

'Then she should have had more guidance,' Kavar said, absently running his hand through his short sandy hair. 'We are there to help guide and set these 'difficult' students on the right path. Maybe it is our own failing, and no fault of her own.'

'Do not blame her ineptitude on the Order, Kavar. No, she was at best a troublemaker, always causing arguments amongst the other students. We should have been more aware of it.'

Kavar shook his head. 'And what would you have done with her Vrook? She was one of many that followed Revan and Malak to war. Do you hold all of them accountable too?'

Vrook glanced irritably away from the younger Jedi, and turned to walk past him. He stopped as he felt Kavar's hand rest lightly on the sleeve of his robe.

'We are all aware of your thoughts regarding her,' Kavar said quietly. 'And while all that you say maybe true, she did have other latent abilities. She understood a lot more than you gave her credit for, Vandar could see that. She had potential. She could have become a good ambassador, and she could have helped reinforce the Order with her ability to reach out and lead others. For our cause.'

'Yes, and that is what makes her dangerous!' Vrook sputtered. 'How long before she amasses an army of her own against us? We do not know what happened to her while she was fighting alongside Revan. For all we know, Revan led her on the path to the...'

'Dark side? Are you so quick to judge her before you have heard what she has to say? She came back to us willingly, to face whatever the counsel decides.'

'It was not her decision to return,' Vrook replied stubbornly.

Kavar smiled weakly. 'But she did return, regardless.'

'This achieves nothing.' Vrook retorted as he walked across the small room and opened the door for Kavar. 'We have less than one hour before she faces us. I suggest that you take the time and use it wisely to reflect on the trouble that she has caused us.' He stepped aside as the younger man passed him. 'And Kavar, I am well aware that you considered her a friend, but do not let your personal thoughts on this matter cloud your judgement.'

Kavar stepped into the corridor as the door hissed shut behind him. He felt deflated. The older man had decided the Jedi Anya's fate, and would not be swayed by thought or reason. Kavar understand Vrooks reticence, but he also understood in part why Anya had chosen to go to war. He had done so himself at the onset of the Mandalorian war, and would have fought on, but the Order had called him back, deciding that it was in their better interests to remain neutral while the battle still raged on.

He wondered what had happened to her, what had changed her. He had spoken to her briefly as she disembarked from the shuttle that had carried her to Coruscant, and he had been shocked at her appearance, although he had hidden the fact from her. Something about her troubled him greatly. She no longer seemed to be the young, naive, carefree apprentice that he had considered taking on as his Padawan on Dantooine. She was different, a shell of her former self.

Maybe Vrook was right. She had gone willingly to war, and somehow he knew it was not for the reasons that he had. She had followed Revan and his close friend Malak, the choice an easy one that she had made without much consideration. In doing so, she had proved Vrook's lack of confidence in her well founded.

Kavar paced silently down the corridor, his brow wrinkled into fine lines of disquiet. No, Vrook was wrong. He could not believe that the young woman he had known could have changed so much after the battle at Malachor V. But, there was the fact that she had returned, unbidden by the council despite Vrook's proclamation. It was almost as if she were aware...

Vrook was right in one thing. Idle speculation achieved nothing. Kavar quickened his pace as he strode towards the courtyard. He needed to clear his mind, and prepare for the ordeal that was to come.

Atris's private chambers.

'Fool.' The pale haired woman stalked around the empty room, her long white robes swishing around her legs in an agitated froth that matched her ever-darkening mood. 'Did you think that I would not be aware that you would come back to face us-to face me?' She frowned, fine lines creasing her ashen countenance, a pink blush blossoming high on her cheekbones. 'I know you better than you know yourself. You are foolish to return.'

Her ice-cold blue eyes narrowed in consternation as a sudden thought struck her. She slowly turned her head, staring at the long steel grey locker that lay discreetly in the corner, forgotten until this moment. She swept a hand across her temple, tucking a loose strand of snow white hair absently back behind an ear.

A slow smile tweaked the corners of her dusky red lips, and she glanced cautiously around the empty room, her pupils dilating as she watched a shadow chase across the sterile walls as the sun danced meaningless shapes, reflected and thrown back through the window on the opposite wall. A sigh escaped her parted lips, and she moved silently and gracefully across the rug-strewn floor, one hand delicately opening and closing as she approached the locker.

Atris knelt in front of the metal box on one bended knee, almost reverently. She reached out and caressed the cool metal, her palm smoothing across its surface, her fingertips trailing lovingly to the blunt edge of the locker.

'No,' she whispered reluctantly. 'Now is not the time.' She rose to her feet in one fluid motion-a legacy of her Jedi training- and carefully brushed the creases out of her robe.

There were other matters to attend to, matters that were more important than even this. Atris pushed all thoughts of the locker to the back of her mind, and paced the length of her quarters, clearing her mind of all distractions, but one.

She had come back.

A tide of emotion threatened her, and she allowed herself to sense the remembered feelings that the young woman evoked. Anya Sair. She was here, on Coruscant. Atris wondered what had brought her back to the Jedi council. Was it mercy that she begged for? Did she expect that the council would welcome her back to the fold? Or, was it Revan's corrupt teachings that had brought her back to the purity and sanctity that the Order offered? Did she hope to sway the council to the darkness that surely resided in her?

Or was it more than that...

Had Anya come back because of her?

Anya had betrayed the Order by going to war, had betrayed her, and Atris felt the sharp thin blade of duplicity settle firmly like a poisoned shard deep in her heart. At that moment, though Atris hated Anya for leaving, she hated her even more for coming back.