Meditation in a New Life

By Dora Furlong

Maruko wound her way down the halls of the main Jedi Temple on Yavin and entered her small quarters. Life on Yavin was nothing like it had been Coruscant. Memories of the past threatened to surface. Memories of a lifetime lived years ago; a lifetime not her own. Though it was all she knew, all she could know. Gracefully she lowered herself onto the mat in the corner of the room and prepared herself for meditation on the days events.

The council meeting had not gone well. The now Mrs. Reineach refused to turn her son over to the Jedi for proper training. She was as fallen a Jedi as there could be, she walked dangerously close to the darkness. She refused to listen to the force and set aside the emotion, ignorance, and passion that her current life encouraged. Without these considerations, all that remains is the force. With these considerations, one did not heed the counsel of the force. One who did not heed the counsel of the force listened to the darkside.

Closing her eyes, Maruko's thoughts turned to the pregnancy of Master Rintalla. She was not content, her center lost. Maruko wondered if the Master kept with her mediation, if she did not, or was refusing to do so, did the master know already that she her motivations were not pure in the Force. Confusion surfaced in Maruko. There had been no pregnant Jedi Knights or Masters in her time. The council would never allow such a thing. Then again the master was refusing the will of the council. Just as Alida Reineach's loyalty no longer lay with the Jedi, she wondered if to refuse the will of the council was to imply the council did not know the will of the force.

Tory McNeil, she wondered. Another who acknowledged his motivations were not necessarily those of the force. Was his loyalty pure. The council was new when he took his bride. The council should have said no when he went to them with his marriage. Instead the Head of the Council not only didn't say no, she married them herself. Maruko opened her eyes, the key was there.

Master Alida D'med, now Reineach. While a Jedi Master of the old order, she was not meant for such leadership. None of the New Order recognized the signs of the woman's slow downfall because of it. Likely, Alida D'med would have been sent back for retraining as some point. But now, now it was too late for such a thing. Duty and Justice now replaced the way of the Force for Alida Reineach. With such a thing hypocrisy would be borne in her, all that was left to the Jedi was exile or a death sentence for the fallen Master.

No, hypocrisy had been born in her. The ex-Master stood before the council and proclaimed she would continue to follow the will of the force and carry her teachings. Yet to know the will of the force was only when such things as duty and justice were set aside. Concretisation as Alida Reineach was now given to was a step away from the those very teachings she promised to hold and the will of the force. Respect and Devotion was now found in her along with the loyalty to her family and her masters. These replaced the will of the force because there was no harmony among her new masters and Alida Reineach had already demonstrated her lack of ability in guiding the young ones and those of the new order. Her very comment to the council demonstrated her hypocrisy.

Maruko reached out to the force letting it flow through her, releasing her own feelings and emotions to it. When there were no other options, the force would let you know. As of yet, she had not been shown there were no other options in the case of Alida Reineach. Perhaps Master Caudell would know of or be shown another way in regards to the fallen Jedi.

Praise, Master Alidar had suggested in the council meeting. Perhaps it was a trait of the D'med line to stray from the path. Though something in her meditation told her other things were at work on the Master. He had gone willingly enough with them to medical. Though her meditation lingered on his lecture of Master Caudell in his presentation. Praise and Blame both led to concern. In the end they led to hope which led to fear and the darkside. What need did the Jedi have of praise or soft words. They were Jedi Knights and Masters not initiates fresh out of the creche at the their master's side. Praise and blame were objects of self and the force did not allow one to serve one's self. To serve the force was to set aside one's own concerns and self-interests. To seek praise was to serve that very self-interest and to lead to the darkside. For Master Caudell to give it, would encourage that step towards the dark.

Slowly Maruko cleared her mind of the thoughts and emotions, and her own reactions. There is only the Force. Her meditation complete for the night, she rose and turned to her sleep couch.


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