Chapter Text
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there once lived an evil sorcerer.
Cunning and cruel, he plotted to gain power among his equals in his order of dark magics and rise above them. So to this purpose he took a small boy to be his apprentice.
Slave in all but name, the child was forced to train day in and out till his body was broken and remolded into the tool his master wanted. His inquisitive mind and caring heart were twisted by his master till the power of the dark continuously burned within him. And after years of suffering the bright young boy had turned into a hardened man strong in dark magics and capable of the most horrific deeds on behalf of his master.
The apprentice had at first loved the man who raised him, but grew to hate him for his sufferings; and bided his time for the day he would be strong and smart enough to take his master down.
After years of careful planning and research, one day the apprentice found it; the piece of sorcery that would be his salvation.
The apprentice had discovered a powerful ritual, a curse which required two to cast, but would siphon the dark powers of one into the other at the cost of turning the former to stone.
The only countercurse was a true love's kiss.
It was the perfect trap.
His master had been so ruthless and cruel in his pursuit of power that the apprentice felt certain that the countercurse could never be broken by anyone, for the sorcerer only loved himself.
To this end the apprentice made his preparations, forgered new spells almost identical to the true ritual in the ancient scrolls, and "stumbled" upon this spell the next time he was sent on assignment to curb the ambitions of his master’s rivals.
The sorcerer praised his apprentice's ingenuity, and lulled the man into a false sense of security, agreeing that this ritual would be the best course of action to take care of their enemies.
The kindness and praise almost made the apprentice hesitant to enact his plan.
Almost.
He had been tricked and hurt before by this man whom deep in his heart of hearts he still called father.
He would not allow himself to be tricked again.
The time came, and the preparations were set. And on the darkest day of the longest year, in the heart of the tallest spire of the temple, the sorcerer and his apprentice began the ritual.
Everything was going according to the apprentice's plan until suddenly it wasn't. When the time of binding came, the apprentice found to his horror that instead of his master, the curse was wrapping itself around him instead.
"Master!" He cried out in terror.
The cruel laugh his master let out seemed to freeze in his veins before the stonework did.
"Did you really think I could be fooled, boy? That I wouldn't know the great curses of my order? Did you really think you could outwit me?"
"I'm sorry, please! Mercy!"
"You know better than most that there is no mercy, boy"
The apprentice's pleas for forgiveness soon turned to screams of agony as the pain of his flesh being petrified from the legs up took over his form.
The sorcerer only smiled, and that was his mistake.
For when his apprentice saw it, he acted.
The pain was excruciating, but the apprentice managed to channel it into his anger one last time, weaving it through the dark coursing inside him as he made one final attempt on his master's life.
His master laughed as he sidestepped the downward swing of his petrifying apprentice's lazer sword, but for a moment the apprentice saw the flash of fear in his eyes. He may have lost, but he had managed to make his tormentor afraid, and it would have to be enough.
Now frozen in place, despair swallowed the apprentice's last moments as he remembered the countercurse. For he was alone in the galaxy save the master he so desperately hated. No one would miss him if he was gone, no true love existed for him that could save him from this horrible fate.
The last thing he heard before he completely turned to stone was his master taunting him.
"Oh poor Maul, all he wanted was a friend."
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In the end, though he didn't know it, the apprentice had been somewhat successful; for though his master was stronger in the dark magics, the power of the ritual had weakened his physical form. The rivals he had made within his order were able to band together and take him down while he recovered, now that his formidable apprentice was no longer there to protect him.
The statue was kept in a place with the other sacred relics of power in the temple as a warning. The story passed down to the generations past, and over time, became a myth. And, generations later, when the temple fell to the most hated enemies of the dark sorcerers. The warriors of light took those relics for themselves within their own temple to the light as a prize.
In and out of storage, for many years the statue had no home in the temple of light, till the temple archivists put it in one of the many rooms of contemplation overlooking the training salles; accessible to all, but out of the way. The legend of the warrior's deadly mistake was no more than a cautionary bedtime tale told to the children. And while the archivists could not deny that the power of the dark emanated from the statue, it was deemed safe to display, For many years it kept vigil over the training salles, a sort of odd but beloved mascot in certain parts of the temple.
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Jedi Archivist Jocasta Nu had a choice to make.
On one hand, she could help her flustered longtime friend and lover Jedi Knight Yan Dooku or she could help the tiny Jedi Initiate with a shock of copper hair currently hiding under her desk at the library.
Both were giving her aak pup eyes.
"Please Jocasta," Yan pleaded with a charming smirk, " I'm just so worried about where they all could be, it's been over 30 minutes."
He was exaggerating his concern to gain her sympathy and they both knew it. The younglings were perfectly safe and Yan was being competitive, even if it was just a game of hide and seek that he'd been roped into that afternoon with the Nexu clan.
The only thing Yan has to lose is his pride.
He was, as always, devilishly handsome and a flirt who could walk all over her if she chose to allow it. But she had promised the youngling she would let him hide there if he didn't interrupt her work, and the little boy had been very good at staying quiet and out of her way. She had given him a spare flimsi and a pen after 10 mins and he'd even drawn her a stick figure of what she thought was supposed to be master Yaddle fighting a krayt dragon.
Jocasta sighed, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose in an effort to stop the headache from building more than it already had.
"Yan, dear. I really am too busy for this--" she gestured in his general direction.
"I'll make it up to you later." he almost purred. "I'm sure Si would enjoy the show--"
Jocasta glared at him, hoping that he would get the hint and stop before the youngling under her desk heard something way too inappropriate for his age.
"I might have heard some giggling by the desert botany section…"
"Thank you, Jo. Your assistance is, as always, invaluable."
Before she could say anything he picked up her hand in the courtly fashion of his home planet and kissed her knuckles, eyes full of mischief.
She snached them away with a flushed face and he chuckled.
Oh she was in for it later.
"Ok I've helped you, now be off." She shooed. "I really am busy at the moment."
He laughed and headed in the direction of the botany section.
"Oh, and Yan?"
"Yes?", he turned, eyebrow raised.
"I'll be done by evening bells, I do believe I'm owed some dinner first. Please tell Sifo to bring the sweet wine." She smiled at him knowingly then went back to work.
Jocasta waited till he rounded the corner then glanced at the little one under her desk.
"You better run along to a better hiding spot, young Kenobi. I think he might come back this way."
"Thank you, Madame Nu!" He chirped.
"You know, I think the astronomy class should be done with the observatory by now." she said nonchalantly.
"Oh, wizard! Thanks again!"
Jocasta chucked and waved back at the smiling boy as he scurried away to his next hiding spot. It was time to get some work done now so she could do some well earned relaxing later.
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Before she knew it, the evening bells were chiming and she was putting the finishing touches on her report for the council when she sensed a distressed presence coming her way.
It was Creshmaster Vant of the Nexu clan, and Jocasta sighed as she realized her rendezvous with Yan and Si would have to wait.
"Master Vant, how can I be of service?"
"Hello Madame Nu, we seemed to have misplaced one of our younglings during our hide and seek game this afternoon."
"Last I knew, Initiate Kenobi was headed to the observatory?"
"He was one of the last caught, thanks to your assistance, but I am speaking of Initiate Kaitis"
"The blond one who likes the book about tooka kits or the blond one who checked out the book about old republic weapons last week?"
Master Vant chuckled "You're thinking of Initiates Assant and Tachi, Eldra Kaitis is the blue one that is always following them around."
"Of course! The one who loves the spacer tales holofilm. I haven't seen her today but I'll help join the search."
"My thanks, Madame Nu, I swear the initiates develop force shielding earlier and earlier."
"And this is why I leave the creshmastering to you" Jocasta laughed. "Let's find your youngling."
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A few minutes later Jocasta was deep in the archives, searching the vents and the few storage units with enough space for a small twilek to hide in when her comm beeped.
It was Yan.
She answered "Any luck with the classrooms?"
"No, any luck with the archive?"
"No, not yet. Did Si and Master Vant have any luck with the playrooms on the next level?"
"Not that I'm aware." Jocasta sighed at the news. "Has Master Vant alerted the temple guard?"
"Yes."
"Good, I should be done momentarily."
"Do you want east or west training salles next?"
"East, they're closest. Meet in the middle?"
"Naturally."
"See you soon, dear."
"Force be with you. Jo."
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Fifteen minutes later Jocasta had checked the first dojo in the eastern training salles, and was on her way to the second, when something stopped her.
It wasn't a feeling in the force, so much as a distinct lack of one.
Odd.
Jocasta made her way to the meditation chambers overlooking the salles and the shielding felt stronger.
Of course, why hadn't she thought of it sooner?
Initiate Kaitis loved the older legends and spacer tales of the great deeds of the past, always checking out those stories at the library. And the meditation chamber with the statue depicting the tale of the dark warrior was just out of the way enough to make the perfect hiding place.
The dark power emanating from the statue would have balanced her presence out, basically making her invisible in the force.
Jocasta hurried closer, and tried not to blush at her memories. She didn’t know who started it but somehow over the years it became a fun tradition among the older padawans to try and break the warrior's curse with a kiss the night before they took their vows for knighthood. Like many others before them, she, Yan, and Sifo had taken turns kissing the handsome statue as senior Padawans; teasing each other mercilessly and trying not to appear too interested in how the other two kissed the warrior.
She remembered how she had gone first, a chaste and sensible kiss on the cheek.
Yan, always with a flair for the dramatic, had knelt down on one knee and dramatically recited a Nubian love poem before kissing the statue's hand for much longer than necessary to the applause and blushing giggles of herself and Sifo.
Sifo, the deviant, had winked at the two of them before kissing the statue right on the mouth with tongue till they pulled him off of the statue, all three of them shaking with laughter.
Tension broken, the three had then started kissing each other. Jocasta couldn't remember who had started it, but at this point several years into her relationship with the two of them it hardly mattered.
She smiled and shook the memory away, focusing on the small missing initiate.
Jocasta turned the corner into the room and saw that the little girl was asleep against one of the statue's legs, her lekku twitching as she dreamed.
Her eyes were swollen slightly and from the small amount of dried mucus on her sleeve, Jocasta guessed the youngling had cried herself to sleep.
Poor thing, maybe the statue overwhelmed her?
The little ones could be very sensitive to this kind of thing sometimes. Force forbid she'd manifested some psychometric abilities without an adult around to help her out of whatever visions she saw from touching the statue.
A gentle approach then.
"Eldra, sweetheart, time to wake up."
Jocasta gingerly pulled the girl off of the statue and into her arms. Eldra blinked reddened eyes open at her and started sniffling again.
"Shhhhh, it's ok. Its ok--" she soothed
"He's so sad!" The girl sobbed into her shoulder, utterly heartbroken.
"Who's sad, sweetheart?"
"He is!"
"You mean the statue?"
"Yeah… he… he has no friends so he's sad"
"Hmmm… well maybe you can be his friend" Jocasta said absentmindedly. She was trying to shift the little one so she could continue carrying her while accessing her comm and it was difficult.
Eldra's sobbing quieted down but didnt stop, and she clung to Jocasta harder.
Jocasta sighed, giving up on comming anyone, and started toward her meeting place with Yan.
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What is taking her so long?
"I found her!", her voice called out to him.
Yan looked up and saw that Jocasta had the little one. A sense of relief washed over him as he took in the sight of her walking towards him.
In his secret heart of hearts he wondered for a moment how she would have looked as his Countess, a circlet on her head like his sister Jenza sometimes wore in their frequent holocalls, wearing a beautiful dress and soothing their child. A child with Sifo's hair and Jocasta's eyes.
He buried the thought quickly. That wasn't his life and never could be. His force sensitivity and his father's bigotry had seen to that many years ago.
"Is she alright?" He asked instead as he relieved Jo of her little passenger, freeing the archivist to answer her beeping comm and alert Master Vant of their status. The youngling was winding down, but still crying.
"She had a long day, might have had an episode? Found her with the statue." Jocasta explained.
"Ah."
Jocasta answered her comm, and Yan turned his attention to the youngling, sending a gentle sleep suggestion her way in the force till the poor girl was out.
"Master Vant requested I take her to the creche, mind being our escort this evening?"
"Anything for you, my dear."
She smiled, and kissed his cheek.
"Let's take her back and go home."
Yan's heart felt very light.