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CHAPTER 1 ~ The Teacher

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EXHAUSTION WAS A FAMILIAR AND HEAVY WEIGHT for Gaea A'Merra — both physical and mental. The way it pressed down on her shoulders and fogged her mind was nothing new. It was like an old friend...or rather, an old enemy; one that never stayed down no matter how many times you beat it.

Though no matter how many times she was plagued with the pain of enervation, she could never find a way to rid herself of it in a quick and timely manner. Sleep was the simple solution, of course, but sleep never came easy to the minds of those who were pressed down on all sides by the mistakes they made — by the number of times they stumbled or fell during the great race called life.

But it seemed that all too often Gaea tripped and fell at the feet of her own terrible blunders. The guilt that came with knowing you were the one to let a friend down, that you were the one who wasn't strong enough or fast enough to save someone...that was a weight that only got heavier over time.

It was early in the morning — the sun had yet to rise over the high, rugged mountain range that sheltered the Sunfire Plateau from the violent activities of the Eastern Tectonic Sea. She was hoping that today would be one of the rare days when the sun did shine so that the thick fog would burn away and she could see more than ten meters in front of her. She doubted it, though.

Gaea and her former student, Cyronn Saan, had landed on Nahlyve, their home and base of operations, late the previous night. Both were weary and discouraged from their failure on Llanic, but while Cyronn had little trouble falling into slumber, Gaea remained awake. She had resigned herself to staring at the stone ceiling of her bedroom, her eyes following the thin cracks in the dim light.

But when one hour turned to two, then three, then four, the human woman decided to rise from bed, knowing sleep was a futile attempt at that point. She, after all, had a job to do, no matter how much sleep she did or did not get.

The children would be awake in a few hours, which meant she had to prepare for her lessons of that day. If her sleep-deprived mind recalled correctly, she would be teaching some of her younger children about connecting with the Living Force.

So Gaea yawned, brushing ginger hair out of her face with her palms as she sat at the edge of her bed. The holo-clock on her desk declared that it was 0437. She still had some time before the lesson, which meant she had the luxury of taking her time and spending a little too long in the refresher...

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"...AS YOU ALREADY KNOW, THE FORCE IS SIMILAR TO THE STRANDS of a tapestry — the largest tapestry in the galaxy. It's woven in and out of other strands of itself to create a picture," Gaea explained to the dozen or so faces that watched her keenly. "It weaves the galaxy and everything within it together, feeding and feeding off of everyone. But, did any of you know that there are two parts of the Force?"

A little blue hand shot up into the air, belonging to a young Duros boy sitting with his legs crossed in front of her. His maroon eyes were wide and brimming with knowledge. As soon as Gaea acknowledged him, he cried, "the Living Force and the Cosmic Force!"

"That's correct," she offered her proud smile as a reward. "The Force has two sides — two aspects. As Kaane said, they are called the Living Force and the Cosmic Force. But for today, we're just learning about the Living Force."

"But what if we want to know about the Cosmic Force now?"

Gaea let out a chuckle at Kaane, who was brimming with curiosity. From what little she had observed from him, he seemed far more intelligent than others his age. He was a fast learner who had no trouble sharing the vast amount of knowledge his young mind had collected. He had a spirit that was a painful reminder of someone she once knew.

"To fully understand the Cosmic Force, Kaane," she told him with the grace and patience of a true teacher, "we have to learn about the Living Force."

"Then tell us already!" Cried a young Twi'lek girl, Dami, her pink hands raised in the air as an expression of impatience. When she observed the look on her teacher's face, she added in a softer, tamer voice, "please?"

Gaea's lips split into a gentle smile, her heart perhaps too forgiving of the emotional whims of young children. They were children, after all. "Of course. Have patience, little one...The Living Force is the part of the Force that connects us all. Remember how I said the Force was like a tapestry?" She paused to sweep her gaze over the faces of a dozen children, each of whom were nodding with eagerness. "Think of the largest tapestry you've ever seen — "

"Like that old one in the library!" Dami cried, bouncing on her knees.

"The one with the picture of Nahv Beasts on it?" Another voice inquired.

"Yes, exactly," Gaea encouraged. "Just like the Nahv Beast tapestry in the library."

"It's bigger than my face!" Shouted a boy from the back.

"It's bigger than me!" Dami added with just as much enthusiasm.

"Alright, settle down a bit," Gaea told them, an amused breath passing her lips. "Now that you've imagined it, think of how the colors are woven together to make a pattern. The Living Force is woven into every living thing and, to those like you and I, can be channeled like a river."

For effect, she stretched out her hand and the blade hilt at her side started to float. It was simple to her, but for the children it was astounding. A chorus of awestruck sounds filled the room as the hilt started to spin, slow and lazy in its movement across the room. Some of the younger children reached out their hands to touch it as it passed a little too high above their heads.

"An old friend of mine once said that the Living Force is the essence of our calling as those who are so strongly connected to it," she told them as the hilt came back to her hand. She didn't ignite the blade, but returned it to its place on her belt with a flourish.

"He was a great man," she hummed, more to herself than the children. A smile on her face that did little to hide the duality of itself – warm, yet tinged with sadness. "He believed it was the duty of everyone to help those around us."

"Was he a Jedi?" A voice suddenly inquired. It was an innocent request, based on the little human boy's vague knowledge of the origins of his teacher and the world around him. But it was quick to plunge the children into chaos.

"Are Jedi good or bad?" Another asked.

"I heard the Jedi were the bad guys! They only want to fight people and force them to do what they want," yet another child piped up from next to the Twi'lek girl.

"No! The Jedi are the good guys, stupid!" Another retorted, spinning around to glare at the one who had spoken. "They fight the bad Sith Lords in epic lightsaber fights!"

"I'm not stupid, you're stupid! And you're wrong!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Alright, alright," Gaea interrupted, her voice loud enough and sharp enough to cut off the conversations before they could turn into more heated arguments...or violence. "That's quite enough, all of you." Tense silence permeated the room as a dozen pairs of eyes stared at her.

"There are many things said about the Jedi," she continued, more gentle now. "Some are true, some are lies. You should never believe rumors, no matter how much they sound like the truth."

"So who are the Jedi?" Kaane inquired with a tilt of his head.

Gaea paused to think, letting out a deep breath as she did so. She met the young alien's eyes when she finally answered. "The Jedi were once keepers of peace. They did their best to stop fighting wherever they could."

"Did they fight Sith Lords?" One child questioned eagerly.

"Sometimes," she replied with a quirk of her lips. "But there haven't been many Sith Lords in the galaxy for a long, long time. The only Sith Lord alive is Count Dooku."

"He's a Separatist!" Cried Dami, beaming with the pride of her knowledge; Gaia nodded.

"So Separatists are bad guys?" Kaane asked.

"The thing is, there's no right or wrong side in the Civil War. Both sides have good, and both sides have bad."

"But the Jedi fight in the war," pointed out the human boy, his blue eyes swimming with confusion. "How can they make peace if — if they're fighting all the time?"

"Well, that's something I'll have to think about," Gaea told her after a pause. "I'm not sure. But we're getting off-topic here, aren't we?" She cleared her throat. "Can anyone tell me what I'm supposed to be teaching you? It seems we've gotten a little distracted..."

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MANY EONS AGO, THE MIGHTY CIVILIZATION OF NAHLYVE NEARLY CAME TO RUIN. It was said that the children of the Darkness burned their temples to the ground, but they were driven away before they could take any more power. The Force-sensitive brings that used to guide and protect them were gone, leaving long-lost knowledge to be discovered by the arrival of a new order of Flame Keepers. Within those crumbling stone walls, Gaea had built her orphanage and school.

The Force had led her to Nahlyve so that she could learn the secrets of a forgotten age and share them with the next generation of Force-sensitive beings. They weren't Jedi...no, they were something else. They were the Lasa Meádá, the Keepers of the Flame. Gaea saved the abandoned and lost, whom the Jedi had passed over or could not reach, and she gave them food, shelter, and a safe place to learn about who they were.

It was, in her mind, as simple as that.

After that morning's teaching of those formerly lost souls, Gaea decided to skip lunch (she didn't have much of an appetite) and head up to a quiet place where she could meditate. Peace was coveted by the teachers and staff at the school, but finding such a place away from the chaos of children was a difficult task. Luckily for Gaea, she had already found such a place, where no one would disturb her unless the universe was coming to an end — or a child accidentally shattered a water fountain or other structure with the Force (which occurred more often than it should).

Her sanctuary came in the form of an ancient tree that shaded a crumbled marble pavilion. It looked out over a deep valley filled with the rushing water that passed from underneath the rumbling Eastern Tectonic Sea to the Great Flame Lake, where the sun would light up the water like fire. The roots of the great tree ran deep into the earth, allowing massive boughs of evergreen to provide relief from the sun in the summer months, which was the only period when it consistently appeared. The thick fog and rainy clouds dominated the skies most of the year.

Gaea found herself spending more and more time underneath the tree, sitting cross-legged in the center of the pavilion. She enjoyed the sound of the raging waters hundreds of meters below, her eyes closed; it felt peaceful and calmed her worried spirit. But as she sat there this time, her shoulders relaxed, she found herself drifting off into slumber. Before she knew it, her head dropped into her chest and she slumped over, the sounds of water fading.

"Gaea! Gaea, where are you?"

She jolted upright out of a dark and foggy dream she couldn't recall. Two voices were calling for her, echoing across the wide space behind the school. They were difficult to hear over the rushing water, but the human woman recognized the voices as two of her good friends: Varruc Jall and Veitla Zeht.

The two Sephi had spotted her underneath the tree and jogged up to her, dark eyes wide with relief. Varruc, a tall alien with purple-blue skin and a height that had yet to be matched, extended his hand to help Gaea off the cracked marble. She brushed herself off and let out a thank you.

"You were here the entire time?" Varruc cried, staring down at her. "We'd thought you had gotten yourself lost — or murdered!"

"It is highly unlikely that she would have been murdered, love," Veitla pointed out, but the gentle tone faded from her voice as she turned her mahogany eyes towards Gaea. "But you've been gone for hours! We were worried for you — especially the children. They started coming up with ridiculous theories after you didn't show up for this afternoon's lesson."

At the mention of the class, Gaea pulled her eyes up to the sun that peeked through the clouds, which was very close to setting. She blinked the sleep from her eyes. "Oh, stars! I didn't realize. I just came to meditate for a bit, but I must've fallen asleep..."

Varruc and Veitla exchanged looks in the pause. "Now that we've found you," Varruc started, "I should ask if you're well enough for tonight."

"Tonight...? Oh!" Gaia felt guilt wash over her when she realized what she had forgotten. "Cyronn's ceremony! Of course, I'm well enough to go! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Perhaps it's because of everything you've been putting on yourself," suggested Veitla, almost sarcastically. Her eyebrows shot under her hazelnut bangs. "You've hardly slept, Gaea, and you've been working non-stop to find Mataroh."

Gaea stiffened at the name of the boy she had failed to save on Llanic. "If I stop looking for him, I might as well have given up," she responded, her jaw clenching. "I'm not abandoning him."

"Gaea," Varruc sighed, his hands moving to rest on his hips, "you know very well that all of us want to find Mataroh, but working yourself to exhaustion will only hurt his chances. Have faith in the others, have faith in the Force, and have faith in yourself. We will find him, but right now it's a waiting game."

Gaea let her head drop and her hand moved to rub the back of her neck. She felt dead on her feet, even after her unexpected nap, but she couldn't just stop. In her heart, she knew Varruc made sense, but her mind kept replaying the words of defeat Cyronn had delivered right as the pirates escaped with Mataroh. However, she also had other responsibilities she needed to take care of, including being there for Cyronn's graduation ceremony. She didn't have time to be tired.

Suppressing another sigh, she looked at the Sephi pair. "I know that you're right, Varruc; but I'm feeling well enough to be there for Cyronn. At least tonight I can be there for someone."

As they made their way back, they spotted a green-skinned figure racing up to them, almost tripping over dark navy robes in her panic."Oh, thank the Force I've found you!" She panted, skidding to a halt in front of the trio. She was a Mirlian with distinctive facial tattoos decorating her worried face. "I need all of you to come with me, now."

"What's wrong?" Veitla questioned the breathless female, Thera Sontra. Her brow was drawn together and her lips pressed into a thin line.

"We have to postpone Cyronn's ceremony," she told them with haste. "The children just found him collapsed on the ground right before dinner."

"What?" Gaea cried, picking up her pace to keep up with Thera as she started making her way back to the school. "Is he alright?"

"I don't know," Thera breathed, "he was freezing cold when I brought him into the medical bay — I have Junya and Getria watching him."

"Take me to him."

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