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aevumgames · 9 months

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✦ | To light the darkest of paths.

Those Long Dead is a medieval fantasy interactive fiction story, with angelic imagery and themes worked in, and a focus on romance. It is rated 18+ for depictions of swearing, potential sexual themes, violence, and death. More warnings may be added as development goes on.

Three generations.

That's how long it's been since this kingdom was conquered. In a time of great upset, the First Queen led a rebellion against reviled rulers and oppressive laws. Waging war with unmatched cunning, she rallied many powerful soul mages, known as angels, to the cause. From that conflict, the kingdom of Calcherth was born, built on the bones of the old empire. The First Queen ruled with great compassion and wit, but not all sins are forgiven with time. For the deaths she had caused during the war, the First Queen was murdered by the very people she had endeavored to lead.

The loss of its ruler did not spell the end of Calcherth, however. The coup was quickly suppressed, and the First Queen's son took the throne in her place. Now, many years later, the scars on Calcherth's short history have faded, and advances in soul magic improve lives for many within its borders. However, those same advances are viewed as a threat by Calcherth's neighboring kingdom, and many fear war is on the horizon once more. To make matters even more dire, the Second King has suddenly passed away, leaving his youngest son to succeed the throne long before he is old enough.

The effects of these events are so far-reaching, that even you are beginning to feel them, far to the southwest in the remote town of Lest. You are the child of a retired knight of the kingdom, who traded in his sword for the deed to Lest's tavern. The Fool's March, your father has named it, and the humble, but beloved tavern has been the center point of your entire life. But now, with rumblings of war, your father plans to pick up a blade once again, heading to the capital to enlist and leaving you behind in your childhood home. With him no longer by your side, what will you do when a threat to the entire kingdom comes for you? What will you do when you find out you may be a soul mage, yourself?

Medieval Fantasy setting with angelic imagery and themes, and a focus on romance.

Adult characters, with the main cast being mid twenties to early thirties.

Customizable MC. Select your first name, last name, pronouns, appearance, orientation and manifestation of powers.

Five romance options of varying gender and personality, who you can interact with as you choose.

More to come as development continues!

Kaine Breckem (he/him) - The blacksmith's former apprentice, who your father took in and hired at the tavern a few years ago. A kind, but mischievous individual, Kaine cares about others a great deal, but that doesn't stop him from being full of snark. Kaine can be your closest childhood friend, or someone you unfortunately work with; the choice is yours to make. Regardless, he's rather protective of you... but who will protect him when he needs it?

Vermillion "Millie" Lousat (she/her) - A descendant of a noble family, Millie has extensive education and combat training... and is also quite the social butterfly. It doesn't matter if it's the docks or the Gilded District, if you want connections somewhere, Millie has them. She wears her heart on her sleeve and doesn't care about the consequences. Maybe you'll catch her eye, somewhere amidst the mass of other's trying for her affections?

Leon Calcherth (he/him) - Technically a prince, Leon is the standoffish older brother of the Young King, Caleb, but is no longer considered to be in line for the throne. He greatly regrets the situation this has put his younger brother in, as they're very close. Leon is not easy to get close to because of the way he acts, but maybe the prickly prince has a softer side underneath the thorns?

Milo Lance (they/them) - The commander of the Order of Light, and they absolutely live up to the position. Practically raised in Gilramore's guard barracks, Milo's personality tends to come across as stiff and business-like, but in actuality they simply enjoy being effective and to the point. A truly gentle soul in a warrior's suit of armor, if you can persuade them to let down their guard.

Clementene Fairwreight (she/her) - Celementene is a talented soul mage for the Order, but she is a researcher at her heart; field work isn't particularly for her. A slightly nervous disposition and bad eyesight really only add to her penchant to stay within Gilramore's white stone walls. Her surprisingly daring experiments with magic captivate most of her attention, but maybe she'll find something in you that can capture her focus as well?

Demo last updated 4/22/2024.

ITCH.IO PAGE | PATREON | DISCORD SERVER | PINTEREST

#if wip #if intro #twine wip #interactive fiction #interactive fiction game #sorry for the repost but the first one wont show in the tags 😭#those long dead if

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jedi-enthusiast · 11 months

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Ok, I know that I already reblogged @antianakin's post about why Anakin didn't need to murder an entire Tusken village because 2-3 of them killed his mom (original post here), but I just feel the need to talk about one of the most damning examples of why Anakin has no excuse for that response.

Post Order 66 Jedi/Clone interactions.

Let's just say, for the sake of the argument, that the entirety of the Tusken village--including the literal babies and children--all took part in the torture/murder of Shimi Skywalker. No exceptions.

Anakin's response to his mother's death is to murder everyone with no remorse or a second thought. Even when he confesses what he did to Padme, the RotS novel clearly shows that he doesn't actually feel bad about what he did. Most of his worry is about what others will think of him and, ironically, about how he's a "good Jedi" that should be better than this.

Now let's move on...

Every clone took part in Order 66 in some way.*

The clones murdered every single Jedi they could in cold blood (albeit without a choice), including the children, with only a miniscule few survivors. How many do we canonically have right now that didn't get captured and become Inquisitors? Obi-Wan, Quinlan, Cal, Caleb/Kanan, and Gungi are all I can think of at the moment.** That's 5 Jedi, out of thousands, that survived--and that's not even mentioning the destruction of their places of worship/cultural artifacts and the shitty propaganda spread about their culture.

* I'm not including the Bad Batch because, my own opinions about the show/characters/writing/etc. aside, we can all agree that the only reason their chips didn't activate was because they're Filoni's beloved OCs and he has a habit of trying to make his OCs "special" in some way.

** I'm not including Ahsoka in this because, like she says repeatedly as of Season 7 of TCW onward, she isn't a Jedi and doesn't see herself as such--and for the same reason I'm not including Grogu, since he's like...a Mandalorian apprentice now and not technically a Jedi. I'm also not including Luminara because she eventually gets captured and killed pretty early on and I'm trying to only include Jedi that are alive for a significant amount of time in the Imperial Era.

So, how do the Jedi treat the clones after they murder their entire family and destroy their culture? Let's look!

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Example One:

Obi-Wan Kenobi never learns about the inhibitor chips, as of current canon. He is 100% under the impression that Cody and the 212th (as well as all of the other clones) just up and betrayed him and the Order for no reason. He also watched the security tapes that, yes, showed Anakin killing children, but also would have shown the clones killing Jedi as well.

In the Kenobi show he runs into a clone veteran of the 501st--a veteran who, in all likelihood, probably stormed the Temple and was a part of its destruction.

Does he spit in the clone's face? Call him a murderer? Kill or harm him in any way?

Nope!

He gives the veteran some of his credits, even though it's made a point in the show that Obi-Wan is now working with limited funds and is very poor at this point in time. He doesn't have credits to spare and he is supposed to be looking for Leia, but he takes a moment to give some to someone who took part in the genocide of his people.

He also routinely thinks about Cody and the 212th in the comics! He remembers them fondly and still connects Cody to the feeling of hope, even though they tried to kill him! Even though he has no idea that they never wanted to!

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Example Two:

Kanan Jarrus/Caleb Dume knows about the inhibitor chips, but in Rebels it's made very clear that he thinks that it's just something the clones made up so that they didn't have to take responsibility for their actions.

In Rebels, Ahsoka makes the (objectively bad) decision to send Kanan out to find her "old friends" to help the rebellion.*** Kanan then finds out that her "old friends" are three clones, only after he gets there and sees them. He reacts in a panic and ignites his saber, clearly freaking out a bit.

*** I'll probably expand on this later, because I have a lot of opinions on this particular decision of hers, but anyway-

Does he try to hurt and/or kill them? Do they have to fight him off? Does he even lunge in their direction or deflect Wolffe's blaster bolt at him?

Again, nope!

He steps in front of Ezra in a defensive position and, when shot at by Wolffe, deflects the bolt into their ship. Then, when Ezra steps in and says that Ahsoka said to trust them, Kanan de-ignites his saber and they all have a conversation about them helping in the rebellion--even though Kanan clearly doesn't trust them at all and is dealing with his PTSD while being there. Eventually he even comes to get along with/trust Rex, albeit in later episodes.

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Example Three:

Gungi, in the Bad Batch, meets up with the Batch and immediately recognizes them as clones. Now, we don't know his opinion on them and their betrayal because it's never really expressed, but it's safe to assume that he has no idea about the chips (at least, until Tech tells him) and it's clear that he's very scared at that point in time.

What does he do?

He hides in the corner of the ship and is wary about the food they offer to him.

That's literally it.

And then later in the episode he works together with TBB and trusts them enough to let them help defend his village.

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So, even with most of the Jedi either having no idea about the chips or likely doubting that story, we're shown over and over again that the Jedi never seek revenge against the clones or try to kill them after Order 66. Even though their lives were ruined by what the clones did/took part in, they're never shown to be actively trying to cause them harm.

So there is literally no way you could possibly justify Anakin killing an entire village of Tuskens because of his mother's death, when--in arguably the same/a worse situation--the Jedi are actively shown not doing that.

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sammy-deserves-better · 4 months

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Hey people who definitely didn’t follow me for my AUs here’s another AU I thought up on the spot!!!

Fantasy/Royalty AU bam lets get into it

Julia and Bowie are the princess and prince of the kingdom, as you do, it’s gay and lesbian hostility in that castle every day

Axel, Wayne, Raj and Emma are knights with Axel being the head of the knights, Emma is also secretly a florist because why not

Priya is the head of the guards while Caleb is the personal guard/advisor to the king

Chase is a travelling bard who loves to talk about his ‘amazing’ adventures of ‘helping’ people

Nichelle is still a famous actress but instead of movies she’s like, famous from plays and all that jazz

Ripper’s a barbarian that’s pretty good at his job, unfortunately he is not taken very seriously

Millie is a famous writer but she’s so damn difficult to find at times and only a few people know where she actually lives

Damien is a wizard’s apprentice, he’s still learning but he’s got some real talent within him

Zee is the court jester, he didn’t even like try out for the role he just started talking one time and the king thought he was hilarious

Scary Girl is a famous necromancer because she is, funnily enough, scarily good at her job

And MK, silly ol’ MK, is a master thief who is wanted all over the world, but can never be located, always managing to escape at the last moment

Alright here’s some more details yippee

Raj and Bowie are like, in love, obviously, knight x prince romance! Forbidden love that isn’t really forbidden but like it’s super cute and Raj is so smitten and Bowie just loves this handsome knight that would do anything for him

Wayne and Emma are friends here because I also think they’re silly, Wayne’s the only one who knows Emma’s secret florist job because she trusts him enough and also he accidentally found out but it’s fine!! But he also nearly gives away Emma’s secret so many damn times because he’s just a little bit stupid

‘Man I wish I could get Bowie a nice bouquet…’

‘Oh well Emma is actually a fl-‘

And then Wayne gets elbowed so hard he can’t breath for 2 minutes

Emma also definitely has a thing for the cute court jester but she has no idea on how to actually approach Zee so she just sends him flowers anonymously and sighs while looking at him lovingly

Julia and MK meet because MK climbs up the damn castle walls at 2am and sneaks into Julia’s room just to rob her, gets absolutely slammed by the princess, wakes up and is tied to a damn chair with Julia right up in her face about to rip her to shreds and all MK can say is ‘you are REALLY attractive oh my gods’

This throws Julia off, they start talking, Julia realises that despite the fact she is holding one of the most wanted criminals hostage in her room, she wants to keep seeing MK because she’s entertaining and mean and just slightly pathetic, so she lets MK go on the promise that the thief will come back every night and so she does and yadda yadda lesbians toxic yuri wins

Millie’s stories actually come to life because shocker she’s actually a wizard in disguise and she needs to be really careful about what she writes so that’s why she hides herself away and is so hard to track down because if the wrong people knew about her magic capabilities oh no that’s a lot of blood and injury and angst and 10k words every chapter

Millie’s parents also had this ability to create anything from mere writing, they shared this ability with the kingdom, and so if an important figure asked them to say…make a protector of the kingdom, they would do so, and they did, and that’s where our villain/antagonist comes in but that’s a story for another day

The older gens are also involved in this one way or another as well, most are just backgrounders but some hold important to the story

Damien is the wizard apprentice to Leonard and Tammy, two great and powerful sages who spend their time helping the world

DJ is the one who taught Emma how to be a florist, he’s kind and understanding and always helps Emma choose the right flowers to give to Zee

Eva trains Ripper under her watchful eye, she’s proud of how far he’s come, but feels he can do just a bit more

Aleheather are the king and queen of the kingdom, Bowie and Julia are their adopted children

And that’s all I got for now uhhhh add whatever you want to this it’s just a silly time

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sassy-cass-16 · 11 months

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Mother's double nat 20s compared to Frumpkin dying like 5 times and always rolling shit perception feels like the difference between Prism and Caleb as wizards

fancy lil dark academia elf apprentice vs smelly scruffy dirty traumatized wizard man

#critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #campaign 3 #campaign 2 #caleb widogast #prism grimpoppy

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jess-the-vampire · 2 months

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We've seen Terra, Darius, Raine and Eberwolf pop up in your AU, but if you don't mind me asking, what are the other "heads" up too? Is Adrian still around somewhere causing problems, does Hunter see Tina throw Mason during the Covention, etc.

i feel like i'm hosting a "Where are they now" segment XD

so, without there being coven heads or a draining spell, they all now have other jobs

Adrien fulfilled his dreams of becoming a director on the isles, trying to get his foot in the door. He is frequently disliked as a director and all of his projects have gotten poor reviews.

Osran got a professor job at St Epiderms, he's in the running to becoming the next principle

Mason has a construction company that benefits off of trying to keep people like philip out, rebuilding everything he has ended up destroying

he still hasn't been able to keep him out

Vitimir is an apprentice at Cornelia's small potion business modern day, so caleb comes by on the regular and sees him at work

there are some suspicions he has involvement with terra but nothing has been confirmed

Hettie is the Hexside school nurse, i'm sure this isn't a problem

#my art #areverseoffeathersandmudau #a reverse of feathers and mud au #a reverse of feathers and mud #golden guard #the golden guard #adrien grey #toh vitimir #toh osran #hettie cutburn #toh mason #hunter wittebane #hunter deamonne #hunter noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane

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earthboundjedi · 7 months

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Okay, but can we talk for a second about when Ezra was making his new lightsaber and absolutely ruining Huyang's organization system in true Ezra fashion and then Huyang was like "Hold up, you're Kanan/Caleb's apprentice? Here's the duplicate of one of the parts on his lightsaber" and it was perfect and Huyang said Ezra must have been a good student and I'm still sobbing over it days later

#ahsoka spoilers #ezra bridger #huyang #kanan jarrus #caleb dume

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purplefangirl42 · 8 months

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For your prompts requests, how about some Cal and Kanan as padawans together? Or even meeting again as adults..whichever sparks your muse.

I think Kanan is a little older, but that doesn't necessarily translate as they would not be friends as kids. I just love his sort of harder sarcasm balanced against Cal's sweeter nature.

Thank you for the request! I'm sorry this took so long and I thank you for your patience. I hope it's what you were looking for! 💜

Tags: Padawan Buddies, Reunions, Survivor Solidarity, Mentions of Grief

Dividers by @eloquentmoon

Cal twiddled with his padawan braid as he watched the traffic fly by outside the large window. Wanting to find a place where he could think without being disturbed, he had climbed up here to this window ledge. If his master looked hard enough, he would find him, so he wasn’t worried about someone thinking he was missing. Although, Cal wasn’t sure if anyone would notice if he did go missing.

With the war raging across the galaxy, it seemed there were always more important things. He knew his master had been hesitant to take him on as a padawan in the middle of the war, and sometimes Cal wondered if that caution should have been headed. He would have been fine to wait in the crechè for a while longer if it meant he could have a master that would be able to designate more time to him.

Master Tapal had mentioned bringing him along on missions, in order to continue his training in the field, but once again he had hesitated. Cal knew he was younger than most human apprentices, and even those older than him had been kept back from the war as long as possible. One in particular he knew about was Caleb Dume. He was only a little older than Cal himself was, but he had just started going on missions with his master, Depa Billaba.

Cal both envied the other boy and had pity for him. He knew deep down that they all belonged at the temple, playing and learning with their fellow students. One of the crechè masters had said something along the lines of “being forced to grow up too fast”, but he figured that was part of life sometimes.

“What are you doing up there?” a voice from below asked.

Cal looked down and saw the very boy he had just been thinking of, as if he had been summoned by his thoughts.

“Just thinking,” he responded, turning his attention back to the window. “This seemed like the best place to do so.”

“Is there room for me up there?”

Cal gestured to the other side of the large window ledge, offering the space to the boy below. After a few moments of contemplation on his route, Caleb seemed to find the way up to him and was soon clambering up onto the ledge to settle in the designated empty spot.

“What are you doing out and about?” Cal asked. “Shouldn’t you be training with your master?”

Caleb shrugged and fiddled with a loose thread on his tunic.

“She’s busy right now, so she sent me to go do my own thing. I was on my way to the library when I noticed you were up here.”

“My master is busy too,” Cal said, letting out a heavy sigh. “He’s always busy.”

Caleb gave him a look of pity, which Cal wasn’t sure he appreciated.

“I know it sounds like I’m whining. I just wish this stupid war would be over so things can go back to normal.”

“I think everyone wishes that,” Caleb said. “It would have been even better if it had never started in the first place.”

Cal couldn’t argue with that. Maybe he would still be in the crechè. Although, he wondered if that meant he wouldn’t have met Master Tapal. He had heard there was a connection between masters and padawans that existed even before they started training together, so perhaps he would have ended up with him anyways. He also knew there were much bigger problems than where his training would have gone.

“I don’t understand why there needs to be so much violence over something as stupid as political disagreements,” Cal said. “Why should people’s different views be a reason to hurt innocent people and drag the entire galaxy into a devastating war?”

Caleb shrugged again and looked out the window at the passing traffic.

“I think it’s a lot more complicated than that. Something that we as padawans are too young and inexperienced to understand.”

“I’m told that I’m too young to understand a lot of things,” Cal said.

Caleb smiled and turned back towards him.

“That’s why we gotta learn what we can so we can understand the things grown-ups think we don’t. They won’t always be around to help us, so we have to learn to fend for ourselves if the situation calls for it.”

Cal shuddered at the thought of dealing with anything serious on his own without his master there to guide him. While he knew it was an inevitable part of life, he wasn’t in a hurry to get to that point. It seemed that his alone time for thinking had taken him down a path that he wasn’t interested in exploring right now.

“You wanna go get some treats from the mess?” he asked. “I’m tired of sitting up here and I’m hungry.”

“Sure!” Caleb said, shifting in place so his legs dangled over the edge. “I’m hungry too.”

The two boys jumped from the ledge, using the force to slow their descent towards the floor. Cal had to admit that Caleb was better at it than he was, his landing a lot smoother and without stumbling. The pair of them walked off down the hall, sharing what kind of treats they hoped to find in the mess when they arrived.

Kanan picked his way through the market, his eyes flicking from face to face. He always had to have his guard up when he was on a new planet, never knowing who he might run into. He doubted there were many people that would recognize him, but you could never be too careful. He had argued with Hera about which of them should go out to get the supplies, an argument that he had lost when she said she had some repairs to make on the Ghost. Which was how he found himself in his current location.

As he perused the goods in the stands he passed, Kanan made sure to keep one eye on the crowd around him. He stopped at one stand that was selling meilooruns, checking their price. Maybe if he brought a few back for Hera, she would soften up a bit more. He knew she liked them. Just as he was about to ask the owner of the stand to help him, he noticed someone in the crowd.

A tall man with a shock of red hair was pushing through the crowd a short distance from him. A long scar ran down his face onto his neck. Overall, he seemed a bit worse for wear. A look that Kanan recognized from his stints in that same position. Something about the man seemed familiar to him, something he couldn’t quite figure out.

Do I know him?”

Kanan wiped that thought from his mind as soon as it appeared. He didn’t know anyone. Everyone he once knew was gone. His master, the order, and all of his friends. The man he had noticed turned to look at him and their eyes met for a moment before the other man turned away, shaking his head.

Does he know me?

Kanan felt a surge of hope swell up in his chest as he looked at the man again. Red hair, freckles, familiar features. He was transported to a time in his memories when he knew a kid with similar qualities, a fellow padawan. Cal Kestis.

It can’t be him. He’s dead.

Kanan squashed the flicker of hope down and turned his attention back to the fruit stand in front of him. He didn’t dare let his heart run away with the hope that there were more survivors, that some of his friends may have made it out. Hoping was dangerous. There was no way Cal could have survived what had happened at the end of the war, he had only been a kid.

So were you.

Passing over some credits, Kanan grabbed the bag of fruit from the vendor and walked in the opposite direction from where he had seen the red haired man standing. It was better to just walk away and forget about the whole thing.

Cal bounced in his seat as the Mantis entered the orbit of Yavin 4. He was anxious to meet the members of the Rebellion that he had heard so much about. Especially the Spectres of Phoenix Squadron. He had heard rumors that there was a pair of Jedi among the group, a master and apprentice.

“Kid, would you quit?” Greez grumbled beside him. “You’re practically vibrating.”

“He’s excited. Which is understandable,” Merrin said, coming up behind him and placing a calming hand on his shoulder. “Greez is right though, Cal. You really are vibrating.”

Cal gave her a small smile and placed his hand over hers on his shoulder.

“It’s not everyday you find another survivor,” he said. “I’ve been hearing so many rumors and I’m anxious to know if there’s any truth to them.”

“I understand,” Merrin said. “If I knew that any of my sisters were still out there, I would do anything I could to reunite with them.”

Cal squeezed her hand before releasing his grip and reaching forward to help Greez complete the landing cycle. Once the ship was settled, he took a deep breath and stood from his seat, walking out of the cockpit. BD-1 beeped inquisitively from the holotable, checking if he was alright.

“I’m fine BD, just nervous.”

The droid jumped off the table and landed on Cal’s back securing a grip on his shirt. The door opened as the ramp extended down to the ground. As Cal walked down the ramp, he could see several figures waiting for him. A green-skinned Twi’lek stepped forward, extending a hand for him to shake.

“Welcome Cal Kestis. It’s good to finally meet you,” she said. “My name is Hera Syndulla.”

Cal shook her offered hand and nodded in greeting.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about your squad and the good you’ve done against the Empire.”

Hera raised an eyebrow at his words, obviously surprised to hear them.

“Really? I wouldn’t think Saw would have anything good to say about us. He doesn’t really agree with the way we do things.”

“He can be a little difficult to get along with sometimes,” Cal agreed. “But he spoke highly of some of your crew, specifically a pair of Jedi. I was hoping to meet them.”

Hera gave him a small smile and gestured for him to follow her across the landing zone. As the pair of them walked together, Cal noticed that Hera seemed a bit nervous herself.

“I didn’t tell them you were coming,” she said. “I wanted to make sure you were the real thing before I got Kanan’s hopes up. He’s been looking for other surviving Jedi for so long and I didn’t want him to be disappointed.”

Cal understood what she meant about having hope and then having it be destroyed. He had followed many leads to only have them end in disappointment and grief. He had been ready to give up on his mission to find other Jedi, thinking that it was impossible for him to come across any other survivors at this point. But when Saw had said he knew these Jedi personally and that they were the real deal, he had resigned himself to one last truth searching trip.

“Here we are,” Hera said, leading him to a small area surrounded by large crates.

A group of people sat around talking; an older man, a man with a ponytail and mask, a young woman that looked to be wearing Mandalorian armor, a young man in orange, and to Cal’s great surprise, a Lasat. The sight of the Lasat caused Cal’s heart to clench in his chest. Although he had long ago come to terms with his grief for his master, there was always something that could bring back the pain in small amounts.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet a very special guest,” Hera said. “This is Cal Kestis. He’s a purge survivor and has been fighting alongside Saw and his band of fighters for the past few years.”

Everyone but the man in the mask gave Cal a wave in greeting. He returned their hellos with a polite nod to each person, but when he got to the last man, he was surprised to find him reaching for him. Cal took the man’s offered hand, which clutched at his own with strength he was not expecting.

“Cal? Is that really you?” the man asked. “You’re alive?”

“As far as I know, but I do have a friend that can bring back the dead. She could have done something like that without telling me,” Cal joked, trying to ease the tension surrounding them.

The man before him reached up and pulled the mask from his face, revealed clouded eyes slashed through with an angry red mark. Something about his face seemed familiar to Cal, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.

“Kanan?” Hera called out softly. “Do you know him?”

Cal couldn’t remember knowing anyone named Kanan. He reached out with the force to touch the other man’s mind. It was both foreign and familiar to him, like someone he had once known but had gone through much change and heartache.

“I used to be called Caleb,” the man Hera had addressed as Kanan said. “Caleb Dume.”

Cal felt all the air leave his lungs. Never in all these years had he thought that his friend could still be alive. In his search, he had found a record of Master Billaba’s death and had assumed that Caleb had died along with her on Kaller.

“Caleb…you’re alive?”

The man nodded, a smile forming on his lips. Before he could stop himself, Cal surged forward and wrapped his arms around his childhood friend, holding him tightly against him. To his surprise, his embrace was returned. The two of them stood locked in their embrace for a few moments before Cal pulled away to look at him again.

“You know, I think I saw you a number of years ago in a market,” Kanan said. “I couldn’t let myself believe it was you at the time so I walked away. I didn’t think you were still alive.”

Cal thought back to a similar experience he had been through. He had been in a market once and had a strange encounter with a man across the crowd. He had assumed the man had recognized him from his wanted posters and quickly left the scene. He had buried the feeling that he knew the man deep inside himself, focusing on getting away from the market and the danger it presented.

“That was you,” he said. “I remember that day. I thought you were going to turn me in.”

Kanan laughed softly and shook his head.

“Two Jedi find each other and the first thing we do is run away.”

“Oh how times have changed,” Cal said. “But I have no intention of running away this time.”

Kanan placed a hand on Cal’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“That’s good to hear. I have many things to tell you.”

Cal laughed at that statement.

“As do I. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve been through the past few years.”

Kanan led Cal over to a box to sit down before gesturing to the people around them, formally introducing them to him. He called over the younger man in orange, presenting him as his padawan, Ezra Bridger.

As the group talked about their experiences, Cal couldn’t help but to think about his own crew from the Mantis. This group seemed to have a similar sense of family and companionship that he had experienced with Merrin, Greez, BD-1, and Cere. He was glad that Caleb, or Kanan as he was now known as, hadn’t been alone for all the years they were apart. And now that they had found one another, neither one of them would be alone again.

#star wars #star wars: rebels #jedi: fallen order #cal kestis #kanan jarrus #caleb dume #star wars fanfiction

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