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Republic Reckoning 4.32.87

Everybody does their own thing for 10 days on Coruscant. Quindo speaks to Aviel Astraleno about completing his warrior training. Ariel - "Why do you choose the path of the warrior?" Quindo - "Because somebody has to." Ariel - "Why you?" Quindo - "It seems to be what the Force has chosen for me." Ariel - "So, it is the easy path?" Quindo - "It certainly hasn't seemed easy." Ariel - "Why not a Naturalist. Nurture life instead of ending it." Quindo - "The Warrior's job isn't to destroy life. It's to protect it." Ariel - "By killing if necessary." Quindo - "I've tried not to kill. I've only taken a few lives." Ariel - "Could you have taken fewer?" Quindo - "Yes." Areil - "How many fewer?" Quindo - "Probably all of them. Ten." Ariel - "Meditate on that."

So Quindo meditates and has a vision. Five paths lead away. One leads to a garden, one to a workshop, one to a conference table, one to a library, and one leads off into the distance. There is a storm on that horizon. Quindo figures that all of the other paths end, so he'll take the one that continues, even though it leads to a storm, maybe because of it.

Along the path there are bodies and signs of a battle. He comes upon a full pitched battle between medieval forces beseiging a castle. Both sides seem equally bloodthirsty. He tries to find out who's fighting and why so that he can intervene on the right side. Nobody will talk to him and there's no way to figure out what's going on. A horseman in green tries to run him down, he dodges. Two other footmen in brown attack him. Quindo only has a sword. He fights the two men, tries to incapacitate rather than kill. Knocks one out but gets pinned to the ground by the other. Suddenly a purple-eyed crazy bitch cuts the throat of the guy on top of Quindo and licks her balde. She'd already stabbed the unconscious guy. She begs Quindo to join her in the slaughter. Quindo refuses and tries to fight out of the dream, but it seems like someone else has taken control (the purple-eyed bitch?). Eventually the dream ends.

Rather than go back to sleep, Quindo works out in the gym for a couple hours until Aviel shows up. Aviel - "Did your meditation reveal anything to you?" Quindo - "Uh... no, not really. Um... I didn't see anything." Aviel - "And you still want to be a warrior." Quindo - "NO. Damnit, I want to stay here and study and paint and never fight again. I don't want to see my friends in danger and I don't want to kill ever ever again. But I will, because someone has to. As long as there's a battle that needs to be fought, someone has to fight it and I'll do it. Not because I want to but because I have to. If you don't want to teach me then I'll figure it out as best as I can on my own." Aviel - "I will teach you."

[Quindo learns Projected Fighting and hones his Martial Arts. Now he only has to learn Reduce Injury to qualify for Jedi Guardian. Oh, and be much cooler in the Force. Whee!]