Chapter Seventy Three

Harry, Aayla, their Masters, and Master Dooku stood in front of the small landing pad that had been built for the Serenno lightsaber training center. It had taken several months to build and prepare since they had all returned to Serenno, but it was now complete, and they were here now waiting for the first group of students to arrive.

The complex was rather sprawling, built around, and in many ways, into Master Dooku's mansion. One of the mansion's wings had been redone, now ready for the various Jedi who would be staying. The outer wall separating the mansion's gardens from the outside world had been knocked down in one segment, then enlarged to encompass several different training zones. Each zone was separated by a walking path several hundred feet long in order to let each training group have privacy from their fellows.

Near the leftmost edge of the training grounds was a large outside classroom that had very thick reinforced ferrocrete walls, but no ceiling. This would be the room Fay and Lily used to teach runic arrays to specially selected students. From the landing area, though, that oddity was barely visible around the corner of the mansion since the training center encompassed a sort of half-moon shape around the mansion's environs.

The small transport vessel touched down, and the ramp lowered smoothly, revealing Master Micah Giiett and his padawan, Alecto, leading the way down the ramp with several other Masters that Harry and Aayla had not met before.

The students were a very mixed bag, which Harry had anticipated considering the dual nature of the training being given here. Besides Master Giiett there were five other Masters and ten Knights who had been requested by the Jedi Order to undergo an evaluation of their lightsaber skills.

Dooku knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Niiman had become far too inculcated into the Consular mindset, but now that there had been a study on whether or not lightsaber styles correlated with deaths in the field, perhaps that style would be abandoned almost entirely.

Besides these more senior members of the Order were four unassigned padawans, padawans who for one reason or another had yet to find a Master or Knight to take them on. This wasn't quite unusual, though it wasn't normal enough that this stage of training had been given a special name. Following them was a clan of younglings with their minder. The idea behind their inclusion was to further spread the special techniques of Clan Saa among the younglings and padawans. Indeed, if this worked, then the training clans, of which there were normally five or six at any given time, could be rotated through the Serenno Training Center to learn these techniques before returning for further training at the Temple.

At the sight of one of the knights and two of the unassigned padawans Harry and Aayla had to fight back grins. While Harry was very happy to see his friend Alecto and the others, Mak Lotor and Kass Tod, Aayla was almost ecstatic to see Knight Shaak Ti, who she had not seen for several months before her ill-fated mission with her Master. Indeed, Aayla almost vibrated in place with the desire to rush forward and greet her older friend, almost an older sister figure, who stood between the unassigned padawans and the other knights.

While the younglings, padawans, and even a few knights paused at the sight of Lily hovering over the welcoming party's shoulders, Shaak simply smiled, locking eyes with the greeters in turn, past the Masters at the front of the group.

In many ways Shaak Ti was a most singular individual. As a Togrutan she should have been social and outgoing, but Shaak Ti liked solitude, setting aside an hour every day for individual mediation while also being available and even going out of her way to help others when in the temple. She was humble and a devoted Consular, yet one of the better lightsaber duelists in the Order. She was also a decent teacher, yet had refused to take a padawan yet even from Clan Saa. She could be caring, yet also aloof in many ways.

As the Togrutan gently began to chivvy the paused group forward, images flashed through Harry's mind as he looked at Shaak, and not all of them were his own. Indeed, the two most prominent ones came from Aayla as she remembered two moments when Shaak had helped her after Clan Saa had arrived at the temple.

Flashback:

Aayla looked into a mirror as Shaak slowly wiped her mouth with a cloth. "In lipstick, much like in most beauty products less is more. You of all individuals need not worry about primping yourself up to feel pretty my dear, even if it was not against the Jedi Code to do so."

"If it's against the rules, then why are we allowed cosmetics at all?" Aayla asked, leaning away slightly from the older woman's touch, though Shaak's hand followed her easily.

"I have often thought of that, and I think it is perhaps one of very few nods towards the fact that even though we are Jedi, we are also women. I do not know if there is an equivalent right for the menfolk; perhaps there is not. The Jedi Order tends to think in terms of gender neutrality with a slight bias towards the masculine side for some reason. Which is truly bizarre when you think about it, considering that as far as we know the modern interpretation of the Jedi Order was founded by a woman."

"Nomi Sunrider, right?" Aayla said, her mouth still obscured by the cloth Shaak was using to wipe her mouth. "I looked her up a few years back when Mother Lily wanted to know about them and if she really looked like she was from the Sunrider clan."

"Yes, Lily does look like one of the Sunrider clan, though as far as I am aware there is no longer any Sunrider among the Jedi Order. Considering the Ruusan Reformation and what it did to the Jedi clans, that is all too obvious." Shaak's expressive mouth twitched at that, and she turned slightly to bring up a small mirror, holding it up to Aayla's face. "There. I don't think that color is you, but you can see how I put it on, anyway…"

The lime green might have stood out, but Aayla had to admit that it really did not look good on her at all. Indeed, it made Aayla look funny, and she broke out into a peal of giggles at her image, which also nearly set Harry off in the present day.

End Flashback

The next memory however was much more serious, and wiped the desire to smile off Harry's face.

Flashback:

Aayla stood in one of the Temple's numerous training centers, hurling her body around wildly. No lightsaber was in her hands, but she was moving through a few of the starting movements that all padawans learned in order to build muscle memory and general fitness. But right now Aayla was using it to blow off some steam, her attempts to try to get to grip with the number of emotions going through her via centering herself in the Force having failed miserably.

She had been here in the Temple for half a year now, and even if you set aside the feeling of being away from Harry, which was always at the back of her mind, it had been one of the worst times in her life. And Aayla had been a slave before she met Harry, not a mistreated one, admittedly, but still a slave, so that said something.

Aayla was unused to the stares, the looks of concern, censure, and condemnation that she saw from all too many Masters here. Masters, knights, even some padawans and younglings seemed to look at her and the rest of the clan askance. But Aayla, as the best of them when it came to teaching their abilities to others, seemed to gather a lot more of these looks than the rest of the clan. Is it my fault that I'm trying to teach them things? Is it my fault that I'm showing them up so often by doing things they can't? How dare they say I'm arrogant! How dare they say that my abilities border on the dark! I thought we were Jedi! I thought we were supposed to be above petty rumor-mongering and such like!

She remembered the words of Master Yoda telling them all that change came slowly to the Jedi Order, that there would be some who distrusted the clan for their differences, and that there would be others who looked askance at their abilities. Aayla had heard these words, but she really hadn't understood the import of them before this. Nor had she anticipated how the constant judgmental glances would slowly erode her self-control.

Her furious movements were interrupted by a calm voice asking, "Is that actually helping, youngling? Or are your thoughts simply going around in circles?"

Aayla stopped her movements, turning in the direction of the voice to see Master Ti standing there. She was dressed as if she too had been intent on getting some training,no lightsaber or robe in view. Instead she wore the sports bra and short skirt all female Jedi wore for training and sometimes even actual combat, despite the sight it made of them, or, Aayla sometimes thought, perhaps because of it. After all, enemies who were too busy trying to stare at your body were ignoring your lightsaber.

At that sight Aayla once more had to fight back a bit of un-Jedi-like jealousy at the way the older woman looked. Shaak was so pretty! Her red skin, even with the white flashes of old wounds here and there, stood out so amazingly, and she had a great chest too. Aayla wasn't certain why being bigger was better there, but she knew it was. I'll get there eventually, she thought once again. Just a little longer. Then I'll probably look just as good.

After a moment, Aayla sighed and shook her head. "No, it isn't really. Is it that obvious?"

"My dear, you are one of the most social individuals I have ever met among the Jedi, and yet you are here alone? Clue number one. Clue number two, your movements are angry, disjointed, far too emotional." There was no censure in Shaak's tone when she said that. She was simply making observations, the calmness of the other woman almost reaching out to touch Aayla and calm her down in turn. "It doesn't help, exercising like this when you are so out of sorts."

"You're not going to give me a lecture about being too emotional? For overreacting to all the, the stares and the sly looks and the…"

"Youngling Secura, if I was going to do that I wouldn't be here. That is not my way," Shaak said, interrupting the other girl. "Instead, I'm here to help."

She moved forward, holding out her hand, the Force pulling a towel from one of the walls to land in her hand neatly before she reached Aayla. "Now, wipe yourself off and come with me."

Feeling somewhat drained physically but still very out of sorts mentally, Aayla complied, wiping her face and lekku, then her arms and chest, patting it once disconsolately before resolutely throwing that thought away again. I'll get there eventually.

"You'll get there eventually," Shaak said, having caught that little movement. Aayla looked a little embarrassed, further adding to her emotional turmoil, but Shaak merely chuckled. "Youngling… Aayla. I was far flatter than you for quite a while longer than I anticipate you will be. Do not let it bother you. It's simply one of the many changes your body is going through that you will have to deal with. Despite all the other tiny falsehoods you are being told at this moment that at least is truth."

Aayla stiffened at that, but Shaak took her arm before she could speak. "We'll talk further about that and about what you have been learning from the Jedi Masters assigned to teach you about such things later. For now, you need to find your sense of balance once more."

The younger Twi'lek didn't argue or try to fight back as Shaak led her by the hand through the Jedi Temple and up several flights of stairs. They eventually stopped outside a door, and Shaak paused, her eyes closing for a brief moment. Aayla could tell that she was sending her thoughts out into the Force, but couldn't figure out why until Shaak smiled, opening her eyes once more. "Good, it's empty right now. Come in."

The meditation room on the other side of the doorway was not one that Aayla had seen yet in her time in the Temple so far. It was not the bare utilitarian room that the younglings were shown and ordered to meditate in. Instead, it was a jungle, almost. From one end to the other, the room seemed filled with trees—small, two-story trees for the most part, with large branches shooting out in every direction, up and down and all around. Several yards into the room was a small stream wending its way through the roots of the trees, several of which seems to be growing directly out of the river.

Aayla, of course, knew that underneath all this would be stone and steel flooring, but right now it was very hard to remember that she was in a temple rather than on some jungle world. And listening to the sound of birds in the distance, she could not hold back a gasp of delight.

"This room dominates half this floor of the temple," Shaak said once more, guiding Aayla in by hand. "I personally have not been to the planet where these trees grow, but they are quite fascinating at first glance, are they not?" Aayla nodded, and Shaak continued to lead her through the room until they came upon a small area of grass between a few trees.

It was obviously artificial, kept clear of the trees by human or other sentient hands instead of by wild design. Yet even so, it blended into the rest so easily you had to really think about it to realize that.

There Aayla felt Shaak let go of her hand, moving forward before turning to the younger girl as she slid down onto her knees in a meditation pose. "Sit."

As she did, Aayla asked, looking a little uncomfortable, "Master Ti, was I broadcasting what I was thinking so hard that you felt it?"

"Master Yoda did, and he requested that I help you. I would have in any event," Shaak replied, shaking her head with a faint smile. "I had actually been on the lookout for this kind of a reaction from you and the rest of your clan-mates. However, I had recently been assigned another mission of my own. It will take me away for at least a few weeks, and I had been researching it so I missed whatever was...is the phrase, straw that broke the animal's?"

"I wasn't trying to blame you, Master Ti," Aayla said, feeling guilty for some reason. "I was just asking if I was projecting so much that I was bothering other people."

"A good attitude to have, and given your empathic ability it is a concern at times. Yet you have never done so in the past, and I doubt you will in the future so long as you quickly control yourself once more. Which brings us to the reason why we are here."

Shaak held out her hands, palms upward. After a seconds hesitation, Aayla reached forward with both of her own, laying them on top of the older woman's. "Close your eyes, and we will begin…"

End Flashback

There that memory ended, and Harry came back to the here and now as the first few Masters, including Master Giiett reached them. Master Giiett as one of the Masters on the council, took the lead, bowing his head to first Fay, then Dooku, before flashing a quick wink up at Lily. "Master Dooku, Master Fay, these are Masters R'sonan, Varsu, Marfel, Crux, and Porto."

The named Masters bowed their heads slightly as they were introduced. R'sonan and Varsu were human, both younger than Dooku by a decade or more, though they moved with more gravitas and formality than he did. Marfel was a Sullustan, her short frame standing out among the others. Crux was a Gand, and Porto, a Bothan. All of them had looked at the Force ghost hovering behind the living members of the welcoming party before concentrating on Master Fay and Dooku. It was clear by their stances that they were more resigned than happy to be here, even with the mystery of the Force Ghost to solve.

"Master Giiett," Dooku replied, bowing his head in a way that indicated very precisely that he felt he was equal to the High Council representative. "I had not thought a council rep would be among my first students here, but you are welcome nonetheless."

"Oh, I'm not so much a student in terms of lightsaber dueling, but in terms of other, more esoteric skills," Giiett chuckled before lowering his voice and moving towards Dooku slightly. "And I am also here as a messenger. I would like to speak to you later, if I may? And, young padawans, I believe you know my own padawan, Alecto?"

Dooku nodded, while Harry and Aayla smiled happily at their friend before turning to the others as the Knights moved forward in turn to introduce themselves. When it came time for Shaak to do so, Harry felt Aayla nearly vibrating beside him.

The Togrutan knight evidently could also sense Aayla's happiness, and she smiled at the younger girl before her mouth moved silently, or rather silently to all but Aayla and Harry. She had actually used a slightly modified version of the Silencing Technique that Harry had developed, something she must have come up with on her own. "Time enough for that later, I think," she murmured. "We have other introductions to do now, padawan."

When it came time for the unassigned padawans to introduce themselves, Harry had to fight back the urge to roll his eyes at how formal this all was, clasping forearms with Kass and Mak. "We'll catch up later," Harry muttered to them out of the corner of his mouth, causing them and the nearby Alecto to nod.

With the introductions over with, Dooku gestured for the large group of Jedi to follow him. He moved through the training area and pointed out some of the separate sections. The odd, roofless classroom attracted some bemused looks, but Shaak's eyes, along with Giiett's, looked up to Lily and then to Fay speculatively. The other masters didn't seem to have made the connection there yet.

Another area had several dozen large mannequins situated at one end. Each of them had a comical expression of anger or shock on them. The younglings, to a child, laughed as they looked at them. Even a few of the other Jedi looked like they were amused by the oddity of the sight.

Master Dooku smiled thinly, then looked over at Fay with one eyebrow raised. She nodded slightly, and before Harry knew what was happening, she gently pushed Harry forward to join Dooku in front of the group. "This training area, as you have already noticed, is a little different from the others. It is not intended to train you in Lightsaber techniques, but in some of the new Force techniques. Many of you might have already heard of them or even know how to use a few. If you have not, one of the original users of the techniques, Padawan Potter, will show you how to. Padawan?"

Gulping, Harry looked around at the younglings, his friends, the knights, and the masters. "You can do it, Harry. Don't worry," Aayla's voice soothed in his head. "You've seen my memories of how I taught the Shield and Stunner techniques, and we've prepared this room for it. Don't let your nerves get in the way of what we both know you can do!"

Sending back a wave of thanks and love through their link, Harry took a deep breath, then began. "The dummies you all see in the corner are set up as targets. But instead of using them as targets for a blaster or something, we are going to use them as targets for what we call the Stunning technique. It is one of the three main skills Clan Saa have been sharing. You might have seen it in use, but if you haven't ,please watch me."

With that Harry turned around and moved away from the watching Jedi. Turning, he pointed down range with one finger. A second later a flash of red light in the shape of a sphere lanced out from his finger, slamming into three of the targets. Despite being somewhat heavier than most sentients they were blown backwards onto their backs.

As they landed, small sensors on their backs went off, emitting robotic grunts and groans in a high-pitched tone of voice. It sounded as if one of the Trade Federation's infantry droids had been given pain receptors. That brought a round of shocked giggles from many of the younglings and the younger set. The older masters and knights, though, shook their heads, not liking the amount of humor Harry was attempting to add to what have should have been a serious lesson. Looking at them, Aayla wondered how many of them also didn't like being reminded of Force techniques that they had so far been unable to perform.

"The trick to this technique is visualization and projection. You must visualize the technique in two parts—first, the sight of the technique moving, then the impact of the technique on the target—before you put both images together into one. The color of the technique is red. Don't ask me why; that is a mystery of the Force that no one seems to have figured out the reason for," Harry went on smoothly, moving back towards the group, using the same words Aayla had during her own time as a teacher.

From there, however, he went on to use his own words, smiling at the listeners. He began by talking about how he had first learned the technique and how long it had taken him to get it right to his mother's exacting standard. The fact that the Force ghost hovering over the group was his mother raised a lot of eyebrows, but Lily smiled happily down at them all, moving among the younglings and through some of them, laughing at them all.

Harry continued, easily capturing their attention as he spoke about how the technique should look in the air, and the feel of expressing the Force out from your body. "Most of the Force techniques you will learn are about reaching out and connecting to the Force to create the effect you wish, to move objects from one point to another like that…" Without even a gesture, the three targets he had knocked down righted themselves. "This technique and others like it, however, are more about you projecting your own Force energy out to create the effect rather than just connecting your mind to the greater Force. It's a subtle difference, but it is there."

Sitting down, Harry gestured down to his body with both hands, slowly raising them then throwing out an arm again. "The feeling should come out from your hand like so. Projection, as I said. It should feel like a warm wind almost, passing through and out of your body. After the first few times the feeling will fade to the background as you use the technique. And you will learn how to control the power you put into the technique too as you get better at it. "

"Now, if I could have you break up into groups of twelve? The first group will join me out here, while the others meditate on the Force, feeling out the connection. I will lead the first group, while Padawan Secura and Master Fay will help the others on their meditation."

For the next two hours Harry calmly walked the groups, which included younglings, Knights, and Masters, through the technique. He helped each person in turn, helping the older set with imagining the outcome of the technique, which seemed to be the hardest point for most of them. The younger set, of course, had issues with projection, using their will to impact the world around them in a controlled manner. But with Harry, Lily, and the others, by the end of the day everyone there was able to create at least a small stunner. The last youngling who managed it actually drew a cheer from the rest of his clan, and Aayla gleefully messed up the little boy's hair as she held up his hand like he had just won a race. That this brought some more frowns from the other Masters and Knights was something she and the others ignored.

After that, the group got the now excited younglings situated in their new quarters, then spent several hours meditating as a group before drifting to bed. Dooku and Giiett excused themselves quickly, while Shaak and Aayla joined Fay in her quarters along with Lily. Aayla was eager to touch base with her older friend, while Shaak was just as interested in speaking to Aayla and getting the truth out of her and Fay about the rumors that had begun to get around the Order as to what had happened to Aayla. Since Master Fay had a high opinion of the younger woman (which, as Lily pointed out, was not saying much, as every woman was younger than Master Fay), she too was eager to speak to Shaak.

The other Knights all gathered around Quinlan in his room to talk shop. Several of them had been assigned to the mass of follow-up missions that had been started by the operation against the slavers which Quinlan and Dooku had led. That operation was massive and ongoing, but had already yielded a lot of results in terms of criminal organizations being shut down and corrupt officials found and removed.

At the same time, Harry and his three former clan-mates met up in Harry's room. "I have to admit to being surprised that all three of you are here. We had been told that Alecto would be coming here with Master Giiett, but not that you two would be. No offense, I'm just surprised."

"We volunteered," said Mak, smiling slightly, reaching forward once more to clasp his friend's forearm. "That was an excellent class judging by the fact that most of the younglings were shooting out little stunners at one another when they left. The masters didn't seem to approve, though."

"I believe in hands-on learning," Harry said with a shrug, not addressing the real thrust of those words. "And it has to be admitted that a lot of our techniques don't need as much centering in the Force or emotional control to work. I'm afraid at least two of those youngling won't be able to form Force Shields, though. I don't think they're strong enough."

His three listeners winced at that. They all knew what happened to Jedi who were not deemed strong enough to actually use the Force in any appreciable manner: they were sent to the farming communities. Even many who were strong enough were often sent there if they couldn't find a Master willing to take them on, or one that they were able to form a connection with. Alecto felt rather privileged that he had had a second chance as he did.

Still, he spoke up, concerned for his friend. "I agree with you, but I think you should be aware of the Masters' reactions. Positive reinforcement is good, but those hugs and pats on the head might be seen as a little over the top. Remember, the Order in the main doesn't approve of emotional connections, and those gestures seem to attract that kind of connection. You're going to be looked at a lot more closely than most padawans are simply because of your techniques, Harry. You need to be aware of how people see you."

Kass spoke up Before Harry could respond, leaning back against the side of Harry's bed after looking around while Alecto was speaking. Harry's room was a lot more starkly utilitarian than she would have assumed, given how long he had apparently been living here, but then again, that seemed to be part and parcel of Harry's personality. If he wanted a comfy set of chairs, Harry would simply conjure them. Harry had very few material possessions that he really cared about. Harry cared about people, a fact she knew all too well.

"The rest of the clan has been dealing with that kind of thing for a while, Harry. Mak and I were almost discouraged from coming here. They didn't want more of the clan to be here for some reason, though that might just be a holdover from the overall reaction to the clan rather than anything else."

"I understand what you're saying, but I am not going to stop myself from feeling or acting as I have been. I understand their concerns. I understand why the Order has turned its back on feeling even the Light Side emotions. I do not agree with them," Harry said calmly. "Searching for a balance is a good thing, but that doesn't mean you should turn your back on the Light Side either. Even Master Yoda said that, remember? Feeling the emotions is not the problem, it is controlling them and not letting the bad emotions fester. That is sort of the great secret, he said once. It unfortunately doesn't seem to have become known to enough of the Order."

The four fell silent at that, then Alecto smirked and pushed Harry's shoulder playfully, just like he had when they were both younglings in Clan Saa. "Look at you, thinking deep thoughts. Still, that's enough of that kind of thing for now."

"Yes it is," Harry replied before looking over at Mak and Kass. "When we were on Coruscant, Zule said you both had been assigned Masters, so why are you unassigned?"

"Master Clifton was badly injured on his most recent mission, and unfortunately he is allergic to bacta, so he has to heal slowly," Mak said, wincing in sympathy with the man who had agreed to take him on as a padawan. They weren't close yet by any means, but they did respect one another, and for padawans from Clan Saa that was enough given how many of the Jedi Order didn't like how Clan Saa acted at times.

"Master Cleona is on a mission to Brentaal," Kass explained. "That's a major trade planet that sits on the junction of two hyperspace trade routes. They don't like Jedi, so she decided she wouldn't take me on until she was finished there. It's a long-term mission, so that could be months in the future."

"Good," Harry said with a laugh. "That'll give you time to learn some of the runic stuff that my mother and Master Fay want to teach."

Kass's eyes lit up with interest. "Really! They're prepared to teach runes to other people? I thought that might be the story behind that weird classroom, but…"

"They'll teach only people who they think they can trust, but given Master Fay's abilities in that area, I'm sure not going to question them," Harry said with a laugh. Master Fay's ability to analyze people and to discern if someone was trustworthy or not was the highest in the Order, an ability which, with her seeming immortality, helped explain why she was a legend in the Order.

"You have any news about the rest of the clan? I caught up with Zule and Wulo when we were on Coruscant. I know they're both doing well, but what about the others?"

Mak was a bit of a gossip surprisingly, and knew more than the others did about how the rest of their clan was doing. Most of them had already been assigned Masters, moving on from the sort of limbo state that existed between the youngling stage and the padawan stage, which, Kass opined, the Order really should come up with a term for.

Harry and Alecto were both astonished to learn, however, that two of their clan members had been sent to the farming conclaves. "George actually requested it?" Alecto asked, astonished.

"You know George," Kass said with a sigh, remembering their old clan mate. One of the oldest boys in the clan, George was a human with a mechanical bent that put Harry in mind of Anakin, now that he thought of it. But whereas Anakin was powerful in the Force, George was easily the weakest in the clan.

"He realized a while back that he wasn't going to really go anywhere as a Jedi, but Kallier has a way with plants, and George has one with machinery. I think the two of them can do a lot of good of the farming community. It still hurts that they were shunted aside like that, but at least they actually wanted it for themselves," Mak said, sighing faintly.

"Is the clan as a whole still, well, looked at askance? You mentioned it earlier, but as a group I would have assumed by this point we would be getting more accepted," Harry asked, looking at all three of them.

"Not as a group," Alecto said, shaking his head. "We're not together often enough for that. I do know that Zule, at least, was censured when she tried to stay in touch with you and Aayla recently. Since the last time she saw you, I mean. The Council of First Knowledge and Reassignment in particular didn't like seeing that. It 'breeds attachment which can cloud your emotional control and your connection to the Force,' or so they say," the green-skinned Duros youth said, shaking his head.

Kass and Mak glanced at one another, and Harry raised a hand to cover a sudden smile. The two of them had a visible connection to one another according to Aayla, who had passed it on to him earlier. He personally hadn't seen it, but now, seeing them glance at one another like that, Harry couldn't not recognize it.

"A lot of the Order doesn't like the fact that many of us have already stated that we'll be taking the Old Oath when we become Jedi Knights, but it's nothing we can't deal with. We have won a lot of renown for our techniques that you passed on through us, Harry, and the fact that they are no longer seen as strange and unusual has a rollover effect with how we are seen by the rest of the Order," Mak said.

"Good," Harry said with a nod. "That is what Master Yoda wanted, I think, though I know for a fact he's not happy it's taken so long to get to that point."

"'Change, unwanted it is at times,'" Alecto said in a perfect imitation of the short, yet immensely respected, even loved, Grand Master, a fond smile on his face. "'Life, always changing it is. Balance the Force, necessary a certain distance is to understand that change is good.'"

The others laughed at him, and he smirked back. "Master Yoda's amazing. Without his help, without his support, I don't think that our abilities would have been as welcomed within the Order as they are even now."

Kass sighed, glancing again over at Mak before looking back at Harry. "I'd give it another few years, and then the only thing that will still get anyone's backs up will be the fact we form attachments. That one, that's not going away anytime soon given the number of Jedi who have fallen to the Dark Side because of that in the past. You're going to have to look out for that, Harry, when the masters and knights here become aware of the bond between you and Aayla."

Wincing slightly at that, Harry nodded and looked at the other three. "Anything else going on with the Order I should know? And what are your lightsaber styles?"

"Actually, before that, is that your own lightsaber you're using?" Kass asked briskly, moving past her moment of weakness quickly. "It doesn't feel like it has a connection to you."

"It doesn't. It was a gift from Master Vos," Harry said, pulling out his lightsaber. "It was one of many that the bounty hunter Aurra Sing apparently carried around as trophies from previous kills. He found them and several more besides in a container case among Jabba's treasure room."

Harry activated the lightsaber for a second, the snap hiss of the blade and the green of the plasma echoing around the room. He looked at it for a moment before clicking it back off, laying it on the ground in front of him. "I imagine that the Jedi who originally owned this would be happy to have it be used again, but I will be building my own eventually. Master Fay, however, is waiting until I have Master Dooku's approval to let me build my own."

At the quizzical looks from his friends, Harry elaborated. "Master Fay thinks that the search for a lightsaber crystal is a part of the process that has long been neglected by simply sending groups of Jedi younglings to the planets that have crystals rather than letting them search for their crystals via the Force. She and Master Dooku have some plan there, but I have to pass a test in the future to prove that I'm ready for it."

Mak blinked, looking down at his own lightsaber which, when ignited, emitted a blue light just like Kass's, then he shrugged. "I guess that idea never occurred to me. Then again, I'm a Consular, not a Guardian; my connection to my lightsaber isn't that important to me. But when we actually start training, are you going to show us how you've been incorporating your abilities in with your lightsaber style?"

Harry nodded, then laughed ruefully. "Master Dooku has been on me for that since almost the get go. 'Do not build false practices; do not fall into the trap of only using a few such techniques; always think about how you would incorporate all of them. If you do not, your Force Precognition can backfire on you and be overcome.'" Harry said, in a rather horrible imitation of Dooku's tone, trying to follow in Alecto's footsteps for a moment.

The others all hissed at him, and Harry pouted before turning to Alecto. "Can you tell us about the mission where you lost your first Master? Only if you're comfortable talking about it, of course."

Alecto nodded agreement and began to tell them about that mission, and in particular how the techniques Lily and Harry had shared helped save his life. From there they went into various lightsaber styles and what Harry had been learning, while elsewhere, other, more serious conversations were going on.