Tales of the Wanderers Part Two – For the Love of Garani

2002 short story by Mark Newbold

Twenty years before Episode IV – A New Hope

My name is Yyfekk Talaihin.  I am a Jedi Knight… 

And I murdered my best friend.

Are you shocked?  Not as shocked as I when I struck with my sabre, slicing through my friend and compatriot Notami De’Athe.  Not as shocked as I when his face contorted into a mask of pain, or as shocked as when he stared at me in horrified disbelief, cut down as we fought in the midst of heated battle.

I had always known my destiny as a Jedi.  I was meant to follow in the hallowed footsteps of one of the greatest of the Jedi, my ancestor Kraal Talaihin, who defended the galaxy seventeen generations ago.  Every generation since, at least one of my bloodline became Jedi; I was but the latest.  My father was a Jedi of influence in the Setnin Sector, fighting for peace and justice the only way he knew how – with wisdom and diplomacy.  And also with devastating skill at handling a lightsabre, a skill I was fortunate enough to inherit.  Or perhaps that should be unfortunate enough.

But I digress.  My story is simple.

I murdered my best friend.

Allow me to tell you how, and more importantly, why…

Notami and I arrived on Gista undercover of darkness, fully aware that our movements were being monitored by our adversaries.  As ever, my mission was clear.  Observe and make note of the actions of Garani Allafson and her dark side allies.  This was a job I was eager to carry out.  Garani was an evil woman, a threat to the natural order.  As a Jedi I had seen enough strangeness in the last decade, since the reappearance of the sith on Naboo, to know that situations like this needed to be swiftly neutralised. 

Notami knew this, only too well.  He had been banished from the Jedi order for misusing the force, learning about the ways of the sith so as to expand his knowledge of the force and counter the growing evil some in our order felt was lying in wait.  At least, that is what he told me.  I was always unsure about that explanation.  We were men hungry for knowledge, and despite my abhorrence of the dark side I could understand his eagerness to learn about it, but not at the cost of his place in the order.  Master Windu himself had stripped Notami of his hard-earned title as a Jedi, and banished him from Coruscant to start a new life.  But Notami, ever a man of conviction and self-determination went his own way and started that life with his new love, a former Jedi trainee named Seranomi. She was the woman who had swayed him from the path of the Jedi.

She was also Garani’s younger sister.

I’m certain this was what made Notami furrow his brow as we walked side by side through the busy narrow streets of Gista the evening after we had landed, streets hewn from honeycombed rock untold years ago in the hunt for spice.  He knew that as much as he loved Seranomi, now his wife and mother of his infant son Blake, he would have to help me bring down Garani and her people.  She was a threat, a dangerous threat to the stability of not only Gista but the Setnin Sector as a whole.  Despite leaving the ways and life of the Jedi behind him, Notami was still big enough to stand by me when I asked for his help. 

Truth be told I wasn’t surprised.  We had been friends for many years as we trained, first on Coruscant and then as Padawan learners to a Jedi brother and sister who guarded the same sector.  He knew only too well that had the roles been reversed I would have done the same for him, and more.  Perhaps he would have to kill a member of his extended family, but the light side of the force had to prevail, and that still meant so much to him.  He was a man of honour.

I miss him…

I nodded ahead as we reached a crossroads and motioned to the left, but Notami paused and shook his head, pointing right.  I followed, my dark Jedi robes wrapped tight around me, protecting me from the cold and the tangy sting of Gista dust as I inhaled.  I used my powers to calm myself and felt control return to me.  It frightened me sometimes how so much money could be made from people wanting to lose control, the way Gista spice could take it.  Setnin, if nothing else, was always the strange dichotomy of forces wishing to gain control and forces wishing to lose control.  I assume that’s what makes her such a unique region of space.

We both noticed how empty the streets had become, how the wind was whistling through the pits in the walls.  It was always dark on Gista, a place of shadows, and I began to understand why such twisted souls could be attracted to a place like this.  I gripped the hilt of my lightsabre and prepared myself for action.  The rigours and battles of the Clone Wars had seen me travel to many, many worlds over the last two years.  I had seen things I didn’t think possible, and yet here beside me was a man who had been turned away from the order.  I knew why; now was not the time to have a man interested in the ways of the sith fighting alongside Jedi, especially with so many young and impressionable Padawans pushed to the front line before they were ready.  Master Windu had done the right thing, but as I eyed my old friend, my spare lightsabre in his grasp, I couldn’t help but think of the unfairness of it all.

Notami’s keen eyes spied it first, a brief shuffle of shadow and a skitter of feet.  Someone was thirty metres ahead of us, spying on our movements.  I had spotted it too and slowed my steps accordingly.  We had a well-prepared battle drill, which we slipped into easily.  Notami took the forward position with me on his shoulder two metres back, both arcs of attack covered.  He ignited the blue blade of the lightsabre and held it in front of him, the illumination glowing off the dark brown walls.  I checked the doorways for more people, but we were clear.  For now there was just the one ahead, but he wouldn’t be for long.  We picked up our pace, covering the distance with ease and followed at speed through the twisting streets.  Our man stayed ahead of us, always just out of sight or turning the next corner. We were aware that we were being led somewhere, that this was bait for us to follow, and like hungry Nexu’s we followed.  How else would we be able to watch and observe Garani?  It may well have been a trap, but we were Jedi.  We could handle anything.

The street opened up into a wider plaza that appeared to have been torn from the rock around it.  Shop shutters were etched into the walls, all closed, and the dim sunlight seemed distant.  We had clearly run downhill, and were far away from the main streets and areas.  I preferred that, and I know Notami did too.  What we did wasn’t always for the public eye.  After all, we were protectors of the peace, not holovid stars.  On occasion, the things we did were less than pretty, and having the locals watch us at work was not the publicity we needed.  We came to a running stop and surveyed our location.  From flat roofs we could clearly see maybe ten of Garani’s followers.  Our records indicated that they were a varied group of mixed species, but there was no sign of the woman herself.  I paused, furrowed my brow and concentrated.  There, she was still a distance away but travelling to our location by swoop.  Notami just glanced sideways at me and nodded.  This was our welcome to Gista, and a message that Garani would not come easily.  If at all.

I blinked and cleared my senses as a wave of Gista spice dust breezed past.  Visitors to Gista often wore protective masks to lessen the impact of this natural phenomenon, but in my haste to secretly collect Notami I had forgotten.  To my shame, Notami had remembered his and quietly slipped his on.  After closer inspection I saw that all ten of our friends wore theirs.  What a fool, I chided myself.  The only fully-fledged Jedi and I’m the one who forgets.

No matter, I was still battle ready and fortunately so because just then six of our assailants leapt down and launched an attack.   Notami was in flight before they hit the ground, intercepting them in mid-air and slashing out at two attackers.  I stood my ground and faced the other four, who formed a loose semi-circle in front of me.  They wore evil grins as dark as their robes, and I too had a smile on my face.  Despite their numerical advantage I wagered that none of them had ever stood toe-to-toe with two Jedi as accustomed to each other’s style as Notami and me.  We fought as one, swift and economical.  I foresaw a bloodbath, and none of the blood would be mine.

How right I was…

Notami backed towards me and we formed a tight battle stance, keeping our opponents at arms reach.  I glanced at Notami.

   “What should we do?  We could keep this up all night.”

   “Attack.  It’s the only language evil understands.”

He was right.  We knew it, and the six around us knew it.  I pushed myself forward off Notami’s back into the nearest three and swung around in a death arc, slicing down two and depriving the other of her arm.  I turned to assist Notami, but whatever he had done he had done quickly because all three of his were steaming, cauterised carcasses on the floor. 

   “The other four?”  Notami asked, the eagerness in his eyes clear to see.  I squinted through the haze, the coppery tang of blood mixing with the Gista dust.  It was an intoxicating brew and I once again had to assert myself.

   “Garani is almost here.  If she wants these fools to keep us occupied, I say let them try.”

Notami grinned, and I saw an edge to that grin that I had never noticed before.  An almost twisted, gleeful grin that positively reeked of danger.  I remember frowning to myself, hearing voices in my head tell me things I would have never consciously thought.  I shook it free again and focused on the remaining four, putting my unusual thoughts down to a mixture of Gista dust, adrenaline and anticipation of the coming fight.  I knew I was tired, and Notami and I hadn’t stood side-by-side in battle for a while.  I convinced myself that was the explanation and forged on.

We engaged the other four, and all the while I could feel the dark cloud that Garani emanated seeping ever closer.  These ten were merely the appetisers for the main course that would be our encounter with Garani, and as this battle continued I craved that meal.  Notami felt the same, attuned as I was to his feelings and emotions and him to mine.  Many things had changed since we last carried out our duties as Jedi together, but right then it felt like nothing had changed at all.  We were closer than brothers, closer than blood.  I would have laid my life down for Notami De’Athe, and him for me.

And I still would, if it would change what happened.

I slammed my attacker away with a heavy force push and accelerated towards her, twirling my sabre in a complicated succession of moves before parrying and sweeping down to remove her legs from the knees down.  The female Entallian howled as she fell, and I swiftly put her out of her misery with a beheading that spun into a slash across my next attackers stomach.  Notami was using his most powerful Jedi skill; planting false images in the minds of his enemies.  I don’t know what they saw, but it halted them long enough for Notami to end their dark side influenced lives with a flash of the blade.

All fell silent.  We faced each other, satisfaction clear on our faces, and in the far distance I could hear the sound of swoops as they approached through the porous rock mountains that surrounded the town.  Shutting down my blade I turned towards the sound in anticipation.  I drew a deep breath, steadied myself and waited.  Something wasn’t right, something felt wrong, but I couldn’t place my finger on what it was.  Notami seemed calm, ready, bigger than before, more prepared, and I wondered again just what it was he had learned from that sith Holocron in the Jedi library.  Was he still the man I had come to regard as a brother, or had the sith taken another for their ranks?

Garani dove into view, bursting through the growing Gista dust, and ignited a plume of it with her retros.  We watched in silence as she landed twenty meters away from us, four of her acolytes flanking her on their own swoops, and dismounted from her vehicle.  She was as sensuous and beautiful a creature as I had ever seen, supple and graceful with an air of elegance that belied her savage dark side nature.  I had met the like of her before, and always treated their manipulative beauty with the distance and respect it deserved…

And yet I drank in her beauty like a drought stricken lover, and I could see Notami do the same.  She approached us, and I tensed to alert, my senses ready.  She smiled.

   “I smell fear.  Good, I like that.”  She turned to face her brother-in-law.  “But you, dear brother, I sense nothing.  Why is that, I wonder?”  She walked around us both, and I turned my head to watch her movements.  A smile played across her lips as she eyed me.  “Yyfekk, really.  After the years you’ve tracked me, do you honestly think I’d let it end with a stab in the back?”

   “I don’t know.  I don’t care.  You’ve trodden a wayward path Garani.  We’re here to put an end to that.”

She stopped and pulled an amused face.

   “Really?  And how do you intend to back that up?  My followers outnumber you.  Your odds are slim at best.  And Gista can get awfully hot this time of year.”  She motioned towards the sun that was finally setting at a leisurely pace over the horizon, its heat still radiating towards the rocky world.  “And you, without your mask.”  She smiled again and slipped hers over her mouth as a cloud of Gista dust floated by.  “Careless, for a Jedi.”

   “Perhaps he knows something you don’t.”  interjected Notami, turning to face Garani.  She frowned at him, cocking her head in thought.

   “You’ve changed brother.  What has my sister done to you?  You used to be a Jedi, something I could hate.  But now…” She let her voice trail off as she looked at him, as if for the very first time.  “Now I don’t know what to make of you.”

   “Well you’d better make your mind up quickly.  Neither of us intends to be here long.”

Garani smiled, and I sensed the psychic command that alerted her men.  My inner alarm bells began to ring and I prepared myself, although I remained calm to the exterior.  Still, something didn’t feel right.  It wasn’t the Gista dust, or Garani, or even the uneasiness I felt about Notami.  Perhaps it was all three, perhaps none of them.  Whatever, something was wrong.

Notami furrowed his eyebrows and turned to look at me.  I don’t know what it was, something in his eyes, but I knew that he was about to do something…unexpected.  We’d been in this situation a million times before on innumerable different worlds, but every time I felt a tingle of electricity.  I gave a silent signal of reply and waited.

He’s about to betray me.

By the gods!  Those were my thoughts running through my head, but I didn’t think them.  I drew a sudden breath, tried to catch Notami’s eye, but he was walking towards Garani.

He’s in league with her.

I began to panic.  I was losing control, losing my mind.  Now was not the time to succumb to the intoxicating effects of the Gista dust.  Control, control.  Remember what Master Yoda taught, I chanted to myself like a mantra, but a sabre-like flash of anger cut through my mind.

Fool!  Don’t just stand there, stop him!

It was insanity itself, but those bitter, hateful words seemed to make perfect sense, even as I turned to look at Garani, a wicked smile on her face as Notami approached her, took her into his arms and kissed her deeply.  I recoiled in horror.  Windu was right to banish him.  The dark side has taken his soul!

Now’s my chance.  Stop him!

I brandished my sabre and ignited it, twirling the blade in my hands and taking a battle stance.  I shook my head to clear the voices, but there were three distinct trains of thought hammering at me, and as my vision wavered I could see three…realities?  In one I was still standing next to Notami, sizing up Garani.  In another I was moving to attack Notami as he kissed the dark side witch deeply.  In the third I was preparing to engage my old friend in combat as he stood, unprepared for my move.

But which vision was the reality?  Which was the truth?  What was happening to me?

Remember your training!  Indecision is death!  Stop them now!

Somewhere in my mind I knew it was madness, and I swear on my fathers grave that I tried to stop myself, but the sabre felt warm and ready in my hands, and I squinted at Notami…

And then Garani’s men attacked.

Blessed mother, I said to myself, turning my attentions to the four acolytes, my sabre a twirling, twisting flash of death.  I force jumped high into the air, travelling over their heads and landing behind them.  I kept my eye on Garani, and on Notami.  In whatever reality I was witnessing, Notami was attacking his opponents, driving two of them back towards the wall.  I parried my now lightsabre wielding enemies, shaking my head and blinking hard.  I could see two Notami’s, blurring into each other.  One was swinging his sabre towards me in an attack.  The other was slicing an opponent into pieces.  But again I asked myself, which was real.

Defend yourself; he’s making his move!

But which is the reality?

I couldn’t tell.

Choose you fool!

Shut up!!

My mind was collapsing in on itself, I could feel it, but I had no way of knowing what was real or unreal, or how to stop it.  It was confusing to tell, but more confusing to live.  So I followed my training, my instincts, my heart.

It was the worst decision I ever made.

Suddenly I was back-to-back with Notami, vision swimming like a heat haze, Notami as big and imposing as he had ever appeared.  He was real enough, to me at least, and as we bumped into each other I turned and smiled at my friend, my brother.

Kill him!!!

Forgive me…

Somewhere in my mind a decision had been made and I wasted no time with showy histrionics.  I slashed at him in an economical attack as our two foes moved towards us.  I can’t get his face out of my mind.  Crumpled and contorted in disbelief as he folded to the floor, his sabre tumbling out of his grasp.  I could feel my face gripped in a grimace of anguish, even as I sliced down again and again, ending his life in a flurry of attacks…

It was over so quickly, and now all I could feel was the numbness of incomprehension.  I staggered away from the scene of the crime, reality still a haze.  Garani was there, satisfaction apparent on her beautiful face.  And, as ghostly as a Jedi apparition, I swear I could see Notami.

What have I done?  I screamed at the other insistent voice in my mind.

But wherever the voice had come from, it was gone.

I tried to take a deep, cleansing breath, use my Jedi techniques to steady myself, but my powers failed me and a wave of remorse hit like a rampaging Reek.  Merciful mother, what have I done?  I could see no other option, and as I looked down at my sabre, preparing to turn it upon myself and swiftly end the torment I knew I would bring upon my soul, for just one moment everything became clear.

…no…

That’s when I passed out.

I was woken by the shrill cry of a bird that had perched itself on an outcrop of rock a few metres away from me.  I was awake almost as soon as I opened my eyes, my senses clear and alert.  I frowned and raised myself to a sitting position, looking down at the ground beneath me.  It had rained in the night, a clean patch of dusty ground marking the spot where I had lain for the night.  I rose to a kneeling position and glanced around, but this quiet dead end was deserted and I was alone.  I paused for a moment, falling in to my powers, trying to sense Garani and her followers, but they were gone.  Probably off planet I surmised, and stood to my feet. 

Something terrible had happened the night before, something profound, but I didn’t know what had driven me to it.  Were my actions of my own volition, or forced upon me by more powerful adepts?  I wasn’t sure.  Certainly, in her own corrupted way Garani was a talent, as was Notami.  His ability to manipulate the force, his subtlety and guile far surpassed mine.  I had always envied him that skill, as much as he had envied my prowess with a lightsabre.  And, as much as envy was no emotion for a Jedi to have, I envied him his choices in life.

Perhaps I had killed him, willingly, with intent, but was too traumatised to realise it or believe it.  First and foremost I was a Jedi, but my friend had left that life behind for the love of a woman.

I still wasn’t sure who was the more foolish and who was wise, even as I left Gista in my vessel, bound for the Outer Rim and a life of anonymity.  I knew that I could never continue my service as a Jedi; the shame of my actions would surely lead me astray.  In many ways I was saying goodbye to more than just Notami De’Athe and my life as a Jedi.  I was also saying goodbye to myself.

Yyfekk Talaihin, Jedi Knight, was no more.  It was time to find another me.

Tales of the Wanderers Part Two – For the Love of Garani

2002 short story by Mark Newbold

Twenty years before Episode IV – A New Hope

Histories – Set a year on from the Louis Turfrey tale Notami, this Mark Newbold story tells of the great deception of Notami De’Athe, which he perpetrated at the cost of his friend Yyfekk Talaihin.  Leading in to the story of the Worldship Rinsome and her flight away from the galaxy, this is just a small chapter in a series of stories that chronicle the Setnin Jedi and their unique ways of dealing with crime and evil in Setnin.

Cast of Characters

Yyfekk Talaihin

Garani Allafson

Notami De’Athe

Kraal Talaihin