The last artifact vision

Firith Mobak is following Lilikai Singan as she walks into the Crystal Cave Cantina. She's considerably older than she was in the last vision, carrying herself with the same confidence her students so often saw in her - but there's a tension in her body, and in Firith's memory of this day, that couldn't be more different from the celebration you last witnessed. He follows her to the usual booth, which also shows signs of age: ripped fabric on the seats, stubborn water stains on the tabletop's finish. Damasa Kovani sits there with a mess of datapads, scrolls, charts, half-full glasses, and dirty dishes spread out in front of her. She smiles broadly at Firith and Lilikai as they approach, apparently not picking up on their discomfort.

Damasa: Oh, good, you're here. We have to make a plan for Korriban. I think I've managed to triangulate the location of the tomb, but the approach looks tricky.

Firith sits down across from Damasa. Lilikai remains standing.

Firith: We have to talk to you about something else.

Damasa: Fine, we'll have plenty of time to do that on the way. On my last scouting trip, my sensors picked up a gully that's as clear a path as we're ever going to have. But it's going to get washed out in the rainy season if we don't hurry. I was thinking if we set the ship down here, on the south ridge -

Lilikai: We're not going to Korriban with you.

Damasa lifts her head. She doesn't look surprised so much as resigned and disappointed.

Damasa: Why not?

Lilikai: We've got new orders. They're sending me for specialized training on Naboo.

Damasa: Spy stuff. Sure.

Lilikai: (under her breath) ...say that a little louder, why don't you.

Damasa: You know I'd keep it under wraps if it was going to make a difference.

Firith: And Master Jocasta asked me to take over teaching her Old Republic history course. You know that's something I've always wanted to do.

Damasa: So do it later, after Korriban.

Lilikai: If Korriban can't wait, go do it yourself.

Damasa: You know it's going to take all three of us to handle the mechanism on the outer door. Tell them you already have a mission. I'm a Jedi Master too. Don't I get a say in things?

Firith: Not when the orders come directly from the Council.

Damasa sits back in her seat, shaking her head.

Damasa: So this is how it happens. You choose them over me.

Lilikai: The Jedi Order is the only family I've ever known. I thought you were a part of it too.

Damasa: I am. At least, I wanted to be. But the Order doesn't want to see what's right in front of their faces. I thought the both of you did. Maybe I was wrong.

Firith: We're saying "no" for now, not "no" forever. And you said it yourself: you're a Jedi Master. Let us get to the same place you are so we can set our own priorities. Then things can be the way they used to be again.

Damasa: We don't have that kind of time. I can't afford to sit on my hands while the two of you play politics.

Lilikai: Nobody said you have to do that! We all know you're perfectly capable of acting on your own. You do it all the time. Look, I know you don't trust the Order anymore. They don't trust you either. But when was the last time you went somewhere that hasn't been abandoned for thousands of years? I've been to Ryloth, Mandalore, Malastare. Bad things are already happening in the galaxy, here and now. I want to do something about them. If something terrible really is coming, like you say, don't you think the Jedi Order has a part to play in stopping it? Isn't it better to let Firith and me stay on good terms with them so we can be your people on the inside?

Damasa: You're persuasive, Lilikai. No wonder they want you for a sp - No wonder they want you where they want you. But it never ends there. You'll do whatever they say, and you'll tell yourself you're doing it for all the right reasons, but the outcome is always the same. You get lost in the cover story and forget what's really important.

Firith: This is what's important, Damasa.

Damasa: Important? Or easy? You're happy to believe me when it's convenient and fun, but as soon as listening to me means doing something risky, something unpopular...when it means finally taking a side...well, all I'm saying is, I see now where your priorities lie.

Firith: My priority is following the will of the Force. The same as you.

Damasa: No, your priority is getting pats on the back from an Order with maybe a decade left in it. I get why it feels like it matters, but it doesn't. Just seems kind of stupid and selfish to me.

Lilikai: Selfish?

Firith: Lilikai...

Lilikai: You're going to sit in our booth and act all wise and superior and tell me I'm the selfish one after what you did to Zernvik?

Damasa: Since when are you and Zernvik good buddies?

Lilikai: You're right, I barely know him. And I still care more about him than you ever did. A padawan came to you, begging to be trained by you, hanging on every word you had to say, and you treated him like garbage. You abandoned him as soon as he got in the way of your obsessions. It's what you always do.

Damasa: I'm trying to save the galaxy.

Lilikai: "I'm trying to save the galaxy." Listen to yourself. You expect me to believe you run around stealing from Hutts and robbing graves on the Outer Rim because it's the only way to fight evil, not because it's what you were going to do anyway?

Damasa: You haven't seen the things I've seen.

Lilikai: The things you see don't happen half the time. How many of them are just you using bad dreams to coerce us into doing what you say?

Damasa is very still. Slowly, deliberately, she tilts her chin upward to look Lilikai in the eye.

Damasa: Half the things I see don't happen because I make them not happen. Or I make sure other people do. Other times it's more like...On Iktotch there are streams that run down the sides of the mountains. Some of them dry up before they make it all the way to the valley. Or a boulder falls and dams them up. But eventually, the ones that last...they all converge. Follow enough streams as far as they can take you, and they'll lead you to the same river in the end.

Lilikai: I don't have time for this either.

Damasa's hand shoots out and grabs Lilikai by the right wrist. Firith is frozen in shock, helpless to intervene. When Damasa speaks again, her voice echoes with prophecy.

Damasa: I have watched this galaxy burn in a thousand different ways. Sometimes the darkness never lifts. Sometimes a new order rises from the ashes. But in every future I have ever known, when the Jedi Order falls to the dark side, Lilikai Singan falls along with it.

Lilikai yanks her arm out of Damasa's grip. She turns toward the door and practically runs out of the Crystal Cave Cantina. Firith watches her go. In the terrible, heavy quiet that follows, Damasa turns her attention back to the maps on the table. She leafs through them, humming tunelessly to herself. Firith speaks to her flatly:

Firith: You disgust me.

He doesn't wait for a response, hurrying out the door and after Lilikai. She must not have been moving very fast, because he catches up to her at the end of the block. Softly, he calls her name and reaches out to tap her on the shoulder. She spins around to face him. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and her mouth is twisted in an expression of anguish.

Lilikai: Tell me she's lying to me, Firith. She's angry because I won't let her manipulate me anymore, so she's just making things up to hurt my feelings.

Firith: She's been wrong about a lot of things before.

Lilikai: When was the last time?

A long and awkward silence follows as they both seem to realize they aren't sure.

Firith: I think you should get ready to leave for Naboo.

Lilikai turns and walks away in the direction of the Jedi Temple. Firith is left standing on the corner, looking back and forth between the cantina and Lilikai's retreating back, as if he's still deciding which way he should go.