"Looks like an ancient Jedi lived here once," Ahsoka said. At some point, she had appeared in the doorway.
Amir picked up the lightsaber and brushed off the absurdly thick layer of dust coating it, then started checking the other corners of the room.
"It was probably about four hundred years ago," Amir said as he studied the first mural. It showed emerald-green mountains and a tranquil temple. In the lower corner there was a blurred date—still barely legible.
The second mural depicted a massive green bird soaring through the sky. Below it was an equally massive nest, holding several pale-green eggs.
"Mistwing might be one of them," Paks analyzed. "That huge bird could've been its mother."
"Some beings can live for thousands of years," Ahsoka said, as if answering the question she saw on Amir's face. "A few hundred years might only be their growth period. For creatures like that, reproduction can be difficult—over such long spans, it's hard to even meet a suitable mate."
Amir stared at the lively eggs in the nest, feeling a quiet weight in his chest. Such precious life—yet now they'd only found one. He hoped the others had hatched and grown… even if they'd left this land long ago.
The murals after that were all strange landscapes and creatures—probably the Jedi recording the interesting things he'd encountered.
"What does this one mean?" Paks asked, frowning at the final mural.
Amir moved closer. The longer he looked, the more familiar it felt—until it clicked. It was the same pattern carved into the outer wall of the temple.
This Jedi had copied the entire wall design and tried to study it. Alongside the drawing were guide lines and annotations—attempts to interpret the markings.
"He was researching the secret of the Massassi-era patterns carved into the temple walls…" Ahsoka traced the auxiliary lines with her fingers, brushing away dust until they stood out clearly.
Amir focused for a long time too, then said, "Is there a chance he was just like me… and couldn't figure out how to get inside?"
"…"
"…"
Ahsoka and Paks were yanked straight out of their careful contemplation by Amir's comment.
There wasn't much point staring at it anymore. Amir had BD-4 photograph all the patterns—if nothing else, they'd keep them as a record.
He lifted the old lightsaber again—and only then did it hit him.
This Jedi might have spent the rest of his life here.
Amir felt something unusual: the Force was flowing around the lightsaber, circling it, condensed and lingering—refusing to disperse.
He focused.
And it felt like an image surfaced.
An old man hacking through layers of brush with this very blade, finally clearing the view of the distant peaks. Then, delighted, he waved both arms at a green figure in the sky—laughing like a child.
Amir lowered the lightsaber and walked toward the door. From somewhere above, an ethereal cry echoed.
Some memories fade with time, slowly forgotten… but the beautiful ones don't truly vanish. Given the right moment, they resurface—returning from the depths of years, and continuing on.
Mistwing landed in the newly cleared open ground. Veronica jumped down from its back.
"What were you doing? Why'd it drag that thing up there?" Veronica pointed toward the mountaintop. She'd been about to go check on Mistwing when she saw it suddenly dive, seize an ugly beast, and haul it up.
"It's avenging me," Paks said, pressing a hand to his wound with a laugh.
Another ship flew in toward the expanding clearing. With droids and heavy equipment working together, the pace of construction was astonishing.
"Whoa! Big bird!" The hatch opened and Millisyn hopped out.
"That's not a big bird—his name is Mistwing," Veronica explained, completely forgetting she'd called it that too at first.
"Oh! Hi, Mistwing!" Millisyn greeted it cheerfully, but the white, almost holy-looking creature seemed wary of her.
Behind her, the other children filed out as well.
"Are we going to live here?" Mona asked, eyes full of curiosity—hopeful about what came next.
"At least for a while," Amir said, glancing at Mona, who still looked weak.
"Okay!" Mona nodded hard.
The rest of the kids were curious too, but the tension in them hadn't faded. That would take time—time to smooth out the fear and conditioning. Amir planned to teach Ahsoka and Guli'gana the Force-based deconditioning method, little by little, so they could help restore the children's stability.
"Do you like it here, Millisyn?" Amir asked as he walked over to the Twi'lek girl, who was still trying to connect with Mistwing.
"I… think so," Millisyn said, her expression troubled as she watched Mistwing keep its distance.
"You can feed it a little," Amir said gently. "And use calm, friendly feelings when you reach out. It'll sense your intent." He handed her a few strips of jerky to help her build trust with Mistwing.
Amir could tell why Mistwing was wary: it disliked the Dark Side presence flowing inside Millisyn.
He'd thought about it too. The darkness in Millisyn wasn't the usual kind—something about it was abnormal, likely tied to the experiments. It didn't rise and fall with her mindset the way it normally would. It persisted—lying in wait, dormant, ready to erupt.
Most of the time, Millisyn's emotions and awareness were calm and kind, no different from any other innocent child. But when something triggered her—like in the sub-lab with John Mori—the darkness could explode like a storm.
And once it erupted, it was hard to control. That was the true horror of the Dark Side.
It wasn't enough to tell yourself you "controlled your emotions," so you could use it safely. The Dark Side was worse than people imagined—like a demon: the moment you tried to draw on it, it dragged you toward the abyss, amplifying your deepest craving and your greatest fear until you sank into it without realizing.
Perfect emotional control wasn't something everyone could achieve. Even in advanced lightsaber forms—like Vaapad, the seventh form—one had to harness the thrill of combat to generate power. Most Jedi wouldn't even attempt it, because it meant walking the very edge of the Dark Side. Only Mace Windu had truly mastered it—and only because he was among the strongest and most unbreakable of the Jedi Order.
Millisyn couldn't do that—at least not now.
Amir had no easy answer. For the moment, all he could do was seek guidance from his teacher.
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🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past
📢 The Force Calls! 📢
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