Well, fancy meeting you here... (Oriadin)

Believe it or not, Kale was studying. Like, with books.

He was seated on an upholstered bench tucked in an alcove that abutted one of the lesser-traveled corridors of the Temple complex just north of the Archives, his right foot propped on a nearby planter with an ice pack taped around his ankle (courtesy of the day's training session). Behind him was a twenty-foot-tall, arched window that gazed toward the opulent Senatorial district. On his lap was a thick, hardbound volume, and on the bench beside him was a datapad which he was using to take notes and look up the hard words.

Kale had discovered the spot halfway through last week, the week after Pierce had handed him a syllabus of texts and topics. He'd found the sarcophagus atmosphere of the Archives proper to be too stifling to concentrate, especially with the head librarian watching him like a hawk the whole time. The back-alley alcove was different. Though it was quiet inside, the walls weren't acoustically insulated the way they were in the library. Up against the window, he could hear the air traffic in the Senatorial district and the landspeeders on the streets below. He could hear the wind, which, hundreds of stories up, blasted the stratoscrapers and made the windowpanes whistle and rattle. Maybe it wasn't what most people would call a study environment, but Kale found it much easier to concentrate amid the familiar city noises than in the cathedral quiet of the Archives.

It also made it easier to ignore the few passers-by that actually passed by. Kale didn't bat an eye when he heard quiet footsteps in the corridor; he was busy looking up the word inexorable, and wondering, if he met something exorable, how he was to exor it.

Oriadin had been back at the Jedi Order for a few days now. He'd kept a low profile since he thought it wise to talk to the Jedi Council about his whereabouts before discussing it with anyone else. Still, there was a constant nagging for the Knight to seek out his old Padawan Kale, and find out how he was, how he was coping.

He'd learned from James Prent that he still trained with the Jedi, and infact with Pierce Tondry. A good man that Oriadin had come to know through his Master Helenias some time back. Oriadin began to track down Kale. Even though he felt he'd failed as his Master, he still wanted to look out for the boy. He still felt responsible for him, in a way.

Finally, Oriadin had tracked him down. He'd spoken to a few people, asking if they'd seen him and of course, used his ability in the force.

He crept up to Kale slowly, noticing he had taken to some hefty reading. Finally he stood above his former padawan, and paused there for a second. So much had changed since he last saw him. Oriadin had been through so much, most of which he hoped one day he would forget, and one day would stop haunting his dreams. Now though, was the time to catch up with his past.

"It means not capable of being swayed or diverted from a course; unsusceptible to persuasion...

...Hello Kale"

Kale flinched at the voice, and the book started slipping between his legs. He jolted forward to catch it, but it fell to the marbled floor with a reverberant crash.

As if jolted awake by the noise, the Padawan straightened up and stared wide-eyed at his former master.

"M-- Master Oriadin! What're you-- Where--"

Kale blinked a few times, then sheepishly bent down to scoop his book off the floor. "You're... back," he said uselessly.

Oriadin stood there hoping for some inspiration to come to him that would make things be all ok. He knew though that that was not how the world worked, even if he had to learn some things the hard way.

"Kale... I..."

The Knight was lost for words. He'd always been one to say the right thing at the right time, but now he seemed different.

"I have spent the last few days trying to track you down. I know that Pierce has been training you...

Im sorry for my dissapearence but..."

He searched for the right words. Things were on his mind, things he didnt feel comfortable sharing just yet.

"Things came up, and I had to leave. Im sorry for leaving you in the lurch in the way I did, but sometimes events unravel in ways you cannot control."

Kale didn't say anything. He was still trying to fully register Oriadin's presence--to assimilate the revelation that his old master, who he had thought had left for good, one way or the other, was standing four feet in front of him.

Things came up...

"I, uh... I had gotten to thinking you weren't coming back."

It came off the top of his head--was it an accusation? An apology? He couldn't tell at this point.

Kale looked up at his former master's face, his eyes shifting back and forth as if he were studying it. "No one told me anythin'. I thought it might be council business, or one of Archer's friends, or..."

All the uncertainty and anxiety he'd felt during Oriadin's absence--particularly after the saber heist--rolled to the surface, and Kale couldn't quell the sudden surge of resentment that followed.

"So, what was it?" he asked with a bit more acid in his voice.

The mention of Archer sent a cold shudder through the Knights body, he gave a worried look to Kale, in the same way a child looks when being told off by a parent. He quickly kept himself in check, not wanting to give anything away and realising Kale was just guessing at where he'd been all this time.

"It was... a difficult time. One Im having trouble coming to terms with myself."

Oriadin's voice wavered as he finished his sentance. His emotions were coming to the surface and his eyes welled up. His fist clenched as he tried to hold back from letting it all out.

He took a deep breath and turned his back on Kale while he regained his composure.

Kale was taken aback by the strain in the Oriadin's voice. When he'd first joined the Order, more to get off the streets than for anything else, he'd thought of the Jedi as mythic figures, giants fighting battles he couldn't possibly understand. He thought they were too wrapped up in the Force to care about little things like real life.

He'd learned better by now. But, even so, it was a shock to see his former master in such a weakened state.

Kale carefully slid his injured foot off the rim of the planter and down onto the floor. It made him feel like he had more solid ground beneath him.

"It was somethin' to do with your past, wasn't it?"

Kale was surprised by his own deduction--but it made sense. If it were official Jedi business, he'd have said so to rescue his conscience. It had to be something personal, and all Oriadin's personal ties, at least, outside the Order, were locked up in the recesses of his shaded past.

Kale was also surprised by how hard he drove the point. Oriadin was flustered, and he wasn't being fair. But he didn't feel like being fair at the moment.

A frown appeared on Oriadins face and his eyes darted from side to side. He was searching. Searching for reasoning.

It had taken Oriadin a few moments to realise that Kale had said anything to him and he felt at a lost on how to reply.

Finally, he turned around to face his formar padawan. His frown subsided and his shoulders relaxed, almost as if he were begining to release a heavy load.

"The past?

Yes, the past but also the present. Why did they have to die? Why did I have to look for them? Its all my fault."

Oriadins hand began to phisically shake and his head began to move side to side as if begging someone not to do something

"Kale.... he killed them all!"

What the frell?

Oriadin's horror was infectious. Kale didn't know what had the knight so spooked, but he still felt a chill in his spine, and he stiffened in his seat.

"What are you talkin' about?" he asked incredulously. "Who killed who?"

Oriadin became lost within his own head, murmering to himself. His hands clasped one another.

He could see a woman, and a small child. They seemed happy. The woman enjoying the beautiful sunshine on her pretty face, and watched as the child played happily by himself with a ball over fields of green green grass.

Oriadins face smiled warmly as those visions ran through his mind. He needed to come back to the order, to those who had become his family after his memory loss. He didnt know where else to turn. The Jedi would help him, thats what they do he thought.

"They killed them all... all of them. They are all dead. I could do nothing."

His smile turned upside down and his eyes filled again.

"Marie... and little Apollo... I couldnt save them."

A single tear was released from the Knights eye. It rolled down his cheek and fell silently to the ground below.

Kale watched in disbelief as the storm of emotion raged on Oriadin's face. He was silent--he didn't have the foggiest idea how to respond. He'd never been very strong on empathy.

There was an awkward pause, and the window rattled as a hover-lorry trundled by.

"I, uh... I'm sorry," he said weakly. Aw, frell, that sounded stupid.

"But none of this is makin' any sense to me. You wanna... you wanna go someplace a little less open?"

He wasn't sure why he was asking--there was so little traffic in this corridor that there wasn't much chance their conversation would be intruded on. But Kale felt sort of cornered, and his mind was hazy. He needed his feet moving so he could think. The Padawan gathered up his book and stood, favoring his left ankle.

Oriadin had been so lossed within his head for a moment, he almost forgot he was talking to Kale. He thought he'd gotten over the worst of it before coming back to the Jedi Order, but now it came flooding back and hit him like a sledghammer on an old wall.

He raised his hand to his face and used his fingers to stop more tears from forming. The knight had once been a text book Jedi. This is right, this is wrong. Never letting out any emotion and always focused on the task in hand. Now he was simply a broken man.

"Kale..." he said, composing himself with deep breaths and ignoring the question of going somewhere else. "Im sorry for the way this meeting has developed. Im not the same person that left here, when I were your master. I... Im not even sure if he will ever come back. You see, ive been on a voyage of self discovery, and from there, been to hell and back.

Once you have seen things, you can't unsee them. Ive seen some truly horrid things since my dissapearence. Things that will haunt me for the rest of my life."

Oriadin knew now that there was no getting away from it. Kale was going to have to know what had happend to him. Kale would be the first to hear of his travels and discoveries. This was going to be hard though, so far, he hadnt even been able to say it to himself in his head.

"Kale... You remember Archer? This begins with him."

Oriadins tone was one that expressed a story was about to begin, and that this could take some time.

Kale nodded slowly. He remembered Archer all right--it was his first Jedi mission, and the first time as a Jedi his life had been put in danger. When their leads on the madman dried up, Kale had been relieved. As tormented as Oriadin appeared, Kale was apprehensive about where this story was heading. But he wanted to hear it.

"Okay," he answered hesitantly, sitting back down on the bench. There was an armchair cattycorner to the bench in the alcove in case Oriadin wanted to sit, too.

For the time being, Oriadin chose to stand. Well, more to pace.

"As you know, our leads on Archer dried up and so we returned to the Jedi Order and I reported our findings to the council. At the time, I thought that was the end of it."

Oriadin shaked his head in dissapointment, he now wished that had been the end of it.

"I started having very painfull visions of my past. Nothing much, just quick flashbacks. None of them really made much sense. It was like a dream thats at the back of your head. You try to tell somone about it and all of a sudden, you cant remember it any more. Well, there was one thing I do remember. I saw Archer in one of my visions of the past."

Oriadin looked to Kale to see how he would react to this before continuing his story.

Kale stiffened visibly. He didn't know anything about visions--he'd never had one himself, and he was inclined not to trust them, even after all he'd seen at the Jedi Temple.

After all, Archer had been weighing heavily on both their minds during those days.

But there was no mistaking how real it had been to Oriadin. "Archer?" Kale repeated. "You're sayin' you an' him used to know each other?"

Oriadin turned to face Kale, his face very serious. The sadness that he wore upon his face just moments ago leaving. It was clear the Knights emotions were scattered about all over the place.

"Exactly!", he shouted. "Ever since I came to the Order I knew nothing of my past or about myself. Id had visions, flashbacks of my past but none of it made any sense. This was the first thing I had to work with. I had no idea what it meant at the time, except that I knew Archer already from my past. What wasnt so clear to me was if Archer knew me or not.

I decided to return to where we began our investigation on Archer, alone. I had to find out what this vision meant for me I knoew the council wouldnt approve, since this was for personal reasons so I left without word." Oriadin looked sadly at Kale. He still regretted not being there for his once padawan learner.

"So I packed up a few things, dressed in my plain clothes and set off. There wasnt much there apart from rubble and debris from the explosion. I had a good look around the place and surrounding area and came accross no clues. I was about ready to give up when I over heard two men chatting from down an ally way. They were talking about a job well done. I could tell they were on about the explosion. I casually walked up and opened up conversation with them. They seemed startled at first, but they were keen to boast about what they'd done."

Oriadin stared at nothing in particular as he recalled what had happend.

"It didnt occur to me how easy and convenient all of this actually was. I was all too wrapped up in finding out about my past."

This was tough to hear--Kale just sank into his seat absorbing it, reserving judgment until he'd heard the whole thing.

And from the sounds of it, there was a lot more left to be told.

"So, what happened?"

Thankfully, Kale didn't seem to dwell to much on the fact that Oriadin left him behind. Unfortunately, he had to continue on with his story.

"Well...", he began. "One story led to another and I convinced them that id been an outlaw on my last plannet and that id heard about Archer and had come in search of him. I told them I wanted to join his ranks. At first they denied that they knew him at all, but with some persuasion with the force, they were soon telling me where their hide out was and how long they'd both worked for the man.

They seemed in awe of the fact they worked for him. Proud. So I asked them to set up a meeting. I would return to the rubble again the following day and find out the hows and wheres of it all. So off they set. I found a small hotel to stay at and booked a room for a few days, not really knowing how long it would take to set this kind of thing up. From what the two men told me, Archer had a lot to do, places to go, people to see. I half expected never to see the men again.

My plan was simple. Infiltrate the group, find out how I knew Archer, gather what ever intel I could on the man and take it back to the Jedi Order.... best laid plans eh?"

Oriadins eyes welled up again. His mind kept skipping to further parts of the story as he ran through what happend with Kale. He could still hear the screams and cries for help. He could remember how utterly powerless he felt, and he felt the guilt.

He lost his concentration and completely forgot he was telling Kale his story. He stood still for a number of minutes glaring down towards the ground.

Kale furrowed his brow. That couldn't be the end of the story...

He nervously clawed at the upholstered cushion beneath him and lightly cleared his throat. "Um... Mas--"

Er, what was he supposed to call him now?

"Oriadin?"

A small wavering voice called out to the distracted Jedi Knight. He looked over to his right and saw Kale.

"Kale... what are you doing here. Shouldnt you...."

Suddenly the knight looked about him and remembered where he was. He'd been completely lost in memories that came flodding back to him.

"Oh right, heh. Sorry. Yeah. I went back to meet the two men I had spoken to the previous day and to my... shock, horror, suprise... call it what you will, there before me stood Archer. As a Jedi you should always be prepared for anything."

Oriadin found himself handing out some advice to his former padawan, and this made him smile, if even for the slightest of moments.

"I couldnt have been prepared for that though. Archer was reguarded as a very dangerous man who was extreamly hard to get any information on, let alone actually see him. Yet there he was, right before my eyes. The other funny thing was, after my visions of him, and that I recognised him from those visions I still couldnt put my finger on how. It was like being asked a question at a quiz that you know the answer to but for the life of you cant remember it.

I approached him, and to my suprise he seemed.... like a nice guy. Down to eath, completely normal. Normal in the sense, not the mass murderer I had been led to belive he was.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, he took me in. Showed me a few things like his hideout and made small talk. He wanted to know if I still felt like I wanted to join his ranks to which I said yes. That began... the initiation... the three trials to see if I were worthy. Thats when things turned... bad"

Oriadin turned to Kale. His emotions all over the place. He was visibly in pain. A fire burned in his eyes and he seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He'd aged since leaving the order.