Rassi found ghosts peaceful. That made less than no sense. For one thing they were clearly dead and yet still poking around in the living world which was as deep a corruption of the Xah as she could imagine. For another, they were Jedi. Jedi! Like, not the new fangled type Nix seemed to be. One of them, Kelda, was straight up wearing ghostly Jedi robes, and the other, Ravas, was surrounded by a chorus of memories both dark and light. 

And love.

Both of the ghosts sung of love by their presence. 

Not the wild hollering of first love, though Rassi could hear clearly that they’d never loved anyone but one another. Theirs was the quiet, abiding sort of connection that drowned out even the echoes of their deaths.

Kelda had come with news of a problem, something to do with Nix’s wife – and that was a concept that set Rassi’s toes and fingers tingling – but even with that and the dread concern it filled Nix with, Rassi felt peaceful in Ravas and Kelda’s presence.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Nix kept her voice low and controlled but in the Xah she was screaming. “If you couldn’t find me, and Ayli couldn’t sense me, how did Paralus manage it? I don’t have any connection to him at all!”

“You must,” Kelda said. “Something you did caused a massive change in something he’s a part of. He wouldn’t be able to reach beyond the stars and manifest before you otherwise.”

“There’s zero chance anything I’ve done to him had more impact than what Ayli and I are to each other,” Nix said. “Or you and me. I’d still be completely ignorant of my connection to the Force if it wasn’t for you.”

“When he came for Ayli, she was in the Shadowed Cave,” Kelda said.

Ravas bapped her on the head.

“You let her take that test without us there to help?” Ravas asked.

“Yes, and she passed it easily,” Kelda said. “I told you she was ready. She even got her eyes back.”

“I’m sorry, what test is this? What did you do to her eyes?” Solna asked.

Solna who resolutely refused to accept that the Jedi were anything other than an abomination. Solna who had never so much as nudged the Xah in the slightest. Solna who nevertheless still called Rassi her friend despite Rassi’s increasingly frequent “mistakes” and “fumbles” with influencing the Xah.

Rassi did not understand her friend, couldn’t tease out the contradictions in her to get them to make sense, and didn’t really want to try in fear that she might unravel whatever it was that held them together.

“Ayli’s eyes changed color after some encounters we had about a year ago. Kelda’s been helping her fix that,” Nix said, clearly distracted as she…

Rassi could quite tell what Nix was doing. It wasn’t manipulating the Xah. That was easy to sense. Nix only seemed to be listening. 

Aggressively.

And then calmly.

And then more aggressively.

“Things are getting worse,” Nix said.

“I can return to her,” Kelda said.

“Or we both could,” Ravas said, with a not-terribly-subtle ripple in the Xah to indicate she intended to bring violence and mayhem along with her.

“No, she’s handling it,” Nix said. “I think.”

“What are you seeing?” Solna asked.

“It’s not sight,” Nix said. “It’s in here.” She tapped her chest. “I can’t do the manifest across the stars. I’m not strong enough and I wouldn’t be able to do anything there even if I could manage it.”

“And it would be wrong,” Solna said, which didn’t seem like the right thing to say or the right time to say it.

“I should be with her,” Kelda said. “If that tank caught up to her, she’ll need someone watching over her shoulder while she fights it.”

“She’s not fighting,” Nix said. “And she has someone with her. No. Someone’s. That’s got to be Bopo and, and someone I don’t know.”

“Monfi,” Kelda said. “He’s a Padal Horizon Knight. He’s hunting Paralus as well.”

“I thought the Horizon Knights were wiped out generations ago?” Ravas said.

“The galaxy is a rather large place it seems. The Jedi, the Sith, the Dathomiri Night Witches, the Silent Enclave, and so many other Force Traditions that people thought were destroyed are hanging in there just fine.”

“I think she’s been captured,” Nix said, her hands were steady over the ship’s controls, but Rassi could feel the tremors in the Force.

Jedi were supposed to be masters of their emotions. Cold and merciless as they bent the fate of the galaxy to their will (until it finally snapped back at them). If that was true, then Rassi could believe that Nix was no Jedi. Not from how Nix was pulsing the Xah around her like hands spasming into angry fists.

“Just tell me where they’re going and I’ll plot an intercept course,” Goldie said.

“Praxis Mar,” Nix said, closing her eyes.

And the disturbing ripples she was sending into the Xah ceased.

Nix wasn’t peaceful. Rassi could still sense the tension inside her, but she’d chosen to stop interfering with the Xah despite her emotions.

Which was something Rassi had never once managed.

“What kind of ship are they on?” Goldie asked, a nervous tension in her mechanical voice.

“I don’t know,” Nix said. “Something dangerous.”

“That makes two of us,” Goldie said.

“Was it her choice?” Ravas asked.

“I think it was,” Nix said. “Which means she’s counting on us to get her out of there.”

“We do not want to go back to Praxis Mar,” Kelda said.

“I know,” Nix said. “But they’ve got a headstart.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t catch them,” Goldie said.

“Ayli will buy us time,” Ravas said. “And she can buy you more if we’re there to help her.”

“If only we could go,” Kelda said, putting a hand on Ravas’s hand.

“What do you mean?” Ravas asked. “I can sense her clearly.”

“As can I. We could even get to Praxis Mar before her,” Kelda said. “And both are traps.”

“What do you…oh, well that’s, annoying,” Ravas said.

“Traps?” Nix asked.

“Whatever ship she’s on, it was the scene of a ghastly enough tragedy to turn it into a floating Dark Side Nexus,” Kelda said. “The moment we appear within it, Paralus will know we are there and will likely be able to manifest more completely because of the imbalance either of us would cause by being there.”

“We could fight him together,” Ravas said, but Rassi could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“If he is backed by the might of Praxis Mar, we would have a challenging time of it. Particularly since he could likely drag us back there, turning us into hostages rather than assets,” Kelda said.

“I thought I was meant to be the pessimistic one,” Ravas grumbled.

“I’m not being pessimistic,” Kelda said. “We will fight him, but on our terms, not his.”

“Will your wife be okay on a ship like that?” Rassi asked, trying to imagine what could be awful enough to permanently corrupt the Xah if the Expunging Rite didn’t do it.

“She thinks she will be,” Nix said. “And knowing her she’s probably right, but I don’t like ‘probably’. Not for her. Goldie can you get Thirty Two on the line. Last I checked, he was in charge of the fleet Sali left to guard Praxis Mar.”

“Sending a holo-message out now. I’ll have an optimal hyperspace route calculated in about five minutes too.”

“Jump the instant the calculation is done,” Nix said.

“I’m making some guesses about what their path might be from Cellondia. Do you want to check them over?” Goldie asked.

“Nope. You’re going to think of everything I would, and I don’t want to lose even an instant.”

“Should we drop these two off somewhere?” Kelda asked, gesturing to Solna and Rassi.

Rassi flinched at that. 

From how they’d been talking about Praxis Mar, it sounded like a deadly dangerous place. Leaving the two people they could least depend on behind made a lot of sense, but it would mean she and Solna would be defenseless and alone on a strange world. 

If Primus Dolon regrouped and tried the Expunging Rite on them, they’d be dead before Nix would even know they were danger.

“We can’t do that,” Nix said, sending a wave of relief crashing through Rassi. “These two are under my protection, and for now, they still need it.”

“Can you protect them Praxis Mar?” Ravas asked.

“We can,” Nix said. “Alone, I don’t think I’m a match for this Paralus. Together though?”

“I doubt it is unaware of the strengths we possess,” Kelda said. “It has waited a standard year for the chance to assault Ayli and yourself. It was likely observing your actions for a great deal longer than that.”

“You should teach us how to fight it,” Solna said.

Which showed that she’d clearly been possessed.

Or had suffered the sort of grievous head injury that only occurred in the holos where no actual damage was done and yet the victim’s personality was completely reversed.

“What? We can’t…” Rassi started to say but was cut off.

“That’s a good idea,” Nix said. “And it will keep me from slamming the hyperspace button and just hoping we’re pointing in the right direction. Let’s go down to the cargo hold.”

“I know I’m normally the last one to ask this, but are you sure this is a good idea?” Ravas said.

“Oddly, yes,” Nix said. “I’m not sensing these two playing any special role in what’s to come, but try to sense them in general.”

“It’s easier to notice where they’re not,” Ravas said. “Please tell me you’re not planning to make use of that. Spies have a far higher mortality rate than most people understand.”

“Which is exactly why they will not be spying for us,” Nix said. “Or engaging with anything that we find which has anything to do with Paralus Stahl.”

“Why then would they need training?” Kelda asked.

“Three reasons,” Nix said. “First, I’m done with being blind sided. I can’t foresee everything that’s before us, but I can plan around the sort of problems which are almost certain to arise and running into unexpected problems is almost guaranteed to happen. Second, they deserve to know that they can defend themselves, without using the Xah even.”

“What?” Solna asked, as surprised by that as Rassi was. 

Rassi wrestled with the smile that tried to cross her face. Solna had asked for training “knowing” that Nix would refuse, or that the training would involve committing Jedi-style sins against the Xah, which would in turn prove that she was right to distrust them.

“I know you hold to your traditions, and I don’t want to take that from you,” Nix said. “I’m not going to change who I am, even if you think that makes me an abomination, because that’s my choice, but it doesn’t have to be yours.”

“Of…of course,” Solna said, looking more rattled than Rassi could remember seeing her in a long time.

“What’s the third reason?” Rassi asked.

“I said I don’t see you or Solna playing a role in what’s to come,” Nix said. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t. I’m not going to ask anything of you. You deserve safety and support, not to be used as tools or weapons.”

“Bending our fates with Jedi powers is worse than asking us to fight for you,” Solna said.

“Absolutely true,” Nix said.

“And our fates are being bent,” Solna said. “We’re not supposed to be here.”

“Also true,” Nix said, a faint smile spreading across her lips as she glanced at Kelda and Ravas.

“Then why are you doing it?” Solna asked. “I didn’t see it at first, but with this? There is no way we’re here at precisely the time you need more soldiers by accident.”

“I don’t think it’s an accident either,” Nix said. “But look at me, really look, and you’ll see, I’m not the one who was asking for the Force to change your destiny’s.”

Rassi did as Nix asked. 

Nix wasn’t lying.

And she wasn’t wrong.

“That’s all your doing,” Nix said, looking not at Rassi but at Solna.