Chapter 15

A few weeks later they made to stop on Taanab, a planet known for it's agriculture and farming. Despite its position at the edge of the inner rim, it held high importance because of the food supply it was offering.

Valin and crew decided to stock up on fresh food here before they continued their journey to their next destination, Mandalore. Their journey there was meant to fulfil multiple purposes.

The first and most important in Valin's books was to get a medical doctor and his team was convinced they knew the right person that would definitely join them.

The next reason was for them to meet a few people and Brachium and Thwak wanted to get some good fights, which was very questionable after they went through the procedure.

Dunn on his part hinted to meet an old acquaintance of him and ask if they would like to follow them. The snickering of the rest of them told him more than clearly that said acquaintance was more than just that and most likely female.

Valin was happy with that as his crew would have filled the most important positions for the moment if they managed to recruit a capable doctor. And he would prefer to have one before going to his next planned locations, Ossus first and Dathomir afterwards.

Both of those destinations could be dangerous if they weren't careful after all, and it would be his first time confronted with the force as far as he knew. Still, Valin was looking forward to it, to unravel a few mysteries and a part of the history of this Galaxy.

Valin decided to take a stroll wandered around the small city they decided to purchase their supplies in. Since he was no gourmet or cook himself, he decided to let Bogo purchase everything they needed while he was guarded by Brachium, Thwak, and Freia.

By now this was a mostly peaceful planet, at least for now, but pirate raids weren't unheard of, and they decided to be careful. That and those three were always welcoming for a fight and eager to test out their newfound power. Valin was the same, but he could live without constant challenge just as well.

Soon he reached the gates and left for a bench just outside of it, overlooking the seemingly endless fields of grain and other produce. The view just had something peaceful that could let him relax his mind.

He didn't know how long he sat there until he was broken from viewing the scenery as another person made themselves known.

"Mind if I join you in admiring this peaceful view?" A melodious voice asked.

Valin turned his head and nearly unnoticeably raised one of his eyebrows. He recognized the person that asked and was curious of why she was here of all places. That was definitely unexpected, but he told himself that he'd need to stay openminded in this new reality of his.

"Please, be my guest." He replied as he slid to the side, making space on the bench.

"Then please excuse me." She sat down next to him and joined him at looking into the distance.

They were silent for a while until Valin decided to voice his question. "What is a Jedi doing out here on a mostly peaceful planet, especially considering your peacekeeping tendencies? Is someone out there plotting to collect all this harvest forcefully?" Valin slightly gasped at the end.

"What gave me away?" She gasped as well, until they both laughed a little.

Jedi didn't really have a knack for being inconspicuous after all, with most of them wearing those robes and carrying their signature weapons out in the open. Though if she carried a lightsaber, she was concealing it perfectly.

"But back to your question, would you believe me if I said the Force guided me here?" She asked calmly.

"I do, but I have mixed feelings about this to be honest." He replied after thinking for a bit.

"Oh? I would like to hear your thoughts on this." She curiously motioned for him to continue.

"I'm sure you have thought about it a lot, but what is the Force? There are countless works and studies about it even outside of your temple. Different civilizations gave it different names, different cultures and eras had different views on it and differed in their uses of the Force. In the end I came to my own conclusion, while the thought of it desiring or striving for balance might be right, it is not necessarily guiding a person to achieve this. Very few people have enough importance and potential to affect that balance after all. I think if you were guided by the Force, it was showing you a way that would lead to fulfilling your own desire in one possible future, depending on further choices you could make on the way." Valin elaborated.

She mused for a while before answering. "You seem to know a lot about the Force to come to such conclusions."

"I'd rather call it theories as I am just well read in subjects that pick my interest. The force is rather mysterious if you want to call it that. I'd very much to hear your own thoughts on the Force however." Valin inquired. He was no Force user himself, so the best he could offer were his own theories of how it actually worked and some knowledge of his former life.

"Hmm the force is hard to grasp as you might have already noticed, but it is a double-edged sword in more than one way. I am what you would call rather open minded in terms of Jedi standards and don't close myself off from everything deemed unnecessary like emotions for example. But therein lies the problem for many as strong emotions can strengthen your bond with it, and this won't always come without repercussions." She stopped for him to take in her words until she continued a short moment later.

"Furthermore, imagine the following. You can let it guide you to help people, the stronger your connection with it, the stronger the urging and signs about what would happen. Now would you fall into an endless cycle to help people in need and witness suffering for most of your life or would you rather stay back with the knowledge you could have prevented something bad from happening? All of this is of course based on your desire to help in the first place. So even while having a good side, the disadvantages might make it seem like a rather cursed power."

"You are saying that it is as much a burden to you Jedi as it is duty and a privilege?" Valin asked rhetorically. "I can agree to that thought in a way. Would you rather not have you connection with it then?"

"In all honesty? I had moments where I wished exactly that. But over the years I came to terms with it and managed to balance myself. My connection is as part of me as much as my arms or legs are." She replied after reminiscing for a bit.

Valin was silent for a while. Sure, he willingly decided against the Force for multiple reasons, but those were not the ones that were prevalent when he designed a seemingly fictional character before, and he was even more sure of his decision now. She could hear it in her voice, that while it had its benefits, at times she was suffering for it.

While could still try to gain force sensitivity with DNA samples of highly Force sensitive species and his DNA resequencer, there was just no compelling reason to. When he made his choices, he chose the resequencer for the chance to evolve into a higher state of being without relying on the force after all. This conversation just reaffirmed his beliefs. Just advancing his own potential would grant him many abilities that the Force could and possibly a few different ones as well.

Stopping his train of thought, he turned to his conversation partner again to ask the question that was on the forefront of his thoughts now. "How come that you are so open about yourself when we just met? We know nothing about each other, not even our names, and I doubt a vague feeling of the Force would justify this level of trust."

She however smiled in return before answering. "I may look like this, but I am quite a bit older than you might think and I have met enough people to know when I should be wary of them. Aside from that, regardless of it being the Force or my own gut feeling, I am sure it is a good decision to approach you with kindness instead of wariness."

"That's a reasoning I can understand." Valin replied nodding along with her. Trusting your own judgement and feeling goes a long way in situations that you are otherwise uncertain of how to act in.

"Plus, I think meeting new and interesting people is what makes life so attractive. I am sure we will have enough chances to talk again in the future." She added.

"Oh? And why is that?" Valin inquired, already having an inkling to where this is heading.

"Because I'd like to request to join you on your journey for a while." She answered with a straight face.

While not completely unexpected, aside from the fact that she appeared at this planet and to meet him at that in the first place, he thought if he should agree to her request or not. Thinking about it, he realized that there were mostly benefits in allowing her on board. She was always known to be open-minded and not a firm devotee like most Jedi. She would be a prime opportunity for him to get a look at the Force and how it is working while he would be able to learn from her experience in life. She could be called a vast well of knowledge after all. No one that lived for so long wouldn't have any useful information after all and considering their next destinations, someone with knowledge in the Force would be more useful than not.

"I accept on the condition that you join us not as a Jedi of the temple or republic, but as the individual person that you are without that specific attachment." He accepted under one condition, stretching out his hand for a shake.

While she was surprised at it, she still accepted without objections. "Very well, I will travel on you ship not as Jedi Master Fay then, but only as Fay." She shook his hand with a small smile.

"I'm glad to have you on board for the near future then Fay, you can call me Valin."

"It's nice to meet you." She replied in kind as Valin was getting lost in his thoughts. It was a contrasting feeling to speak with such an experienced person that looked barely older than him.

They would have one of the most well-versed Jedi Master when it came to the ways of the universe hitchhiking for the next few weeks. The only thing he had to make sure now was to avoid his crew to make a mess of it. Understandably, not all of them were overly fond of Jedi after all.

On the other hand, they wanted a challenge lately and testing themselves against someone as experienced as her in a sparring match was a rare chance that was too good to pass up on, he mused inside his head.

Fay on the other hand began to have second thoughts, unsure where this feeling was coming from.