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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3620393" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 482: Time to Go“We have a ship aboard...it is old, according to the humans, but it flies well and can take you home,” the Jendari, Janis, said. He took a few steps towards one of the large viewports to glance to the view of the green planet below, his own feathers roughly the same colour, “I expect your friends wonder where you have gone off to.”    “They didn’t know when I’d be back anyway,” Venda said with a shrug. This Jendari seemed much more personal than the others she’d met, and he also had a very strong knowledge of things she really didn’t think he should.    “Nonetheless, lady Jedi, I suspect that if you do not take this opportunity to leave, another will not come for a great deal of time,” he turned back to face her, a pair of grey eyes that bore deep into her watching her movements.    Venda idly reached a hand up to rub the back of her neck. For some reason it was aching still after that fight with the so-called Mrrakesh, “The whole galaxy is at war. Its no safer there...besides, it doesn’t feel right to just leave. I should help if I can.”Something close to a smile formed on the beak-like head of Janis and he tilted his head to the side for a moment while a few feathers stood on end, “You are as noble as the Jedi of old. I am glad to see their ideals survived even if many of them did not. But this is no place for you to be. This...this is something that the Alraxians must work through for themselves. It is not right for anyone to interfere.”    “Even you?” Venda hadn’t missed that odd statement.    Janis shook his head and then looked back towards the planet, “Since the Jedi left thousands of years ago, we have taken on the role of guiding the Alraxians. What we have learned is that it is not our place to stand in the way. We must let them grow as they will, and simply hope to teach them a greater wisdom to push them along the right path.”    “So you’ll go to war for them, even if you don’t agree with it?” by now, the Jendari ships were already gone. Everyone aboard knew it, and soon the Alraxian people as a whole would. The entire political situation was still fairly new to Venda, but she was getting a good grasp of it.    “You do not understand why we follow them,” Janis stated a rather obvious fact, “We are not...conquerors. My people existed here in this space long before the Alraxians or the Mrrakesh. We saw their creation and their manipulation at the hands of the Sith, and we interfered then to protect both species from their creators. The Jedi sided with the Alraxians, however, and when it became apparent that the Sith’s control of the Mrrakesh was too strong, so did we. When the wars ceased...the Sith were driven out and the Jedi left. Where the Mrrakesh quickly began to use what they could to solidify a society, the Alraxians were lost. We saw them as...children. So we protected them and helped them. But we are not their masters and we would never dream of that. Every species has a right to make their own choices.”    Taking this history lesson in, Venda sighed and shrugged, “That does answer one thing, but not my question.”    A whistling noise that was probably a laugh escaped Janis and he smiled again, “If we protect the Alraxians from making mistakes they will not grow and the Mrrakesh will kill us all.”    “But you could...”    She trailed off when Janis quickly shook his head, “Before the Alraxians and the Mrrakesh and all of the other species that exist in this sector were a dream, we found a small group of very human-like beings on a planet near our borders. It was our first encounter with another intelligent species, and they were...primitive. We were not completely foolish and did not simply give them starships. We gently nudged them along, attempting to help them develop a little faster than they might have naturally. But we made their choices for them. We pushed them to what we thought they should be, because they were the choices we made. It wasn’t long before we didn’t give gentle nudges and they may as well have been slaves to us. They killed themselves off a thousand years before the Alraxians were born. They killed themselves off because of what we did to them. Because we tried to control their development, rather than guide it as we had originally intended.”    Those pieces started to fit into something that actually answered her question, “So you’ll follow the Alraxians to war, even if they could all die.”    “If I told you that they will not die, would you believe me?”    For a long few moments, Venda just stared at him, trying to read that alien face. Finally, she let out a sigh and nodded, “I would.”    “Why?”    “I don’t know...” the answer came quickly, but it was honest. Venda really didn’t know.    Carefully, the Jendari reached into a small pocket at his hip. He retrieved a small, thin object and extended it to her, “This will not be the last time we meet, and you will return here soon. We will survive here, but there are some in your war that will not without your help.”    Slowly and cautiously, Venda took the object from Janis, realizing the second she grabbed it that it was a small datacard. She looked at it, wishing she had a datapad to see the contents, then looked back to the Jendari, “Thank you. But...what is this?”    He bowed his head politely, “There is no need to thank me, lady Jedi. Before you leave, I expect the Empress will meet you in the hangar. Ask her about the gift we gave her.”    Behind her, the sound of a door opening got Venda’s attention. She turned around to see another Jendari, who was much more red in colour than Janis. This Jendari looked straight to Venda and motioned towards her, “Please, lady Jedi, the ship is ready.”    She sighed. There were a great many thing that Janis had said that were leaving far more questions than she’d started with, but Venda had a feeling he was right. Unsure of much of it, but deciding to follow along with it anyway, Venda looked back to Janis and bowed, “I do hope we meet again, Janis.”    “As I said, lady Jedi, we will,” he smiled again as she turned to leave, “Until then, may the Force be with you.”</blockquote>

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