Several days had passed since Khan returned to Coruscant.
The injuries covering his body had begun to heal.
The burns along his arms remained visible, but the pain no longer followed every movement. The healers had instructed him to rest.
Khan had tried.
He spent time with Kit and Aayla.
Walked through the Temple gardens.
Visited the training halls.
Returned to the archives.
Every place was familiar.
None of it felt the same.
Khan sat within his private chambers.
His legs were crossed beneath him. His hands rested against his knees.
The lights had been lowered.
The distant movement of Coruscant passed beyond the windows. Speeders crossed between the towers while the city continued without him.
Khan closed his eyes.
He reached toward the Force.
The Jedi Temple had always brought him peace.
As a youngling, he could feel the presence of thousands of Jedi surrounding him. Their connection to the Force moved through the halls like a quiet current.
It had made him feel safe.
When Dooku chose him as a Padawan, the Temple became the place he returned to after every journey.
When Master Yoda corrected his mistakes, the Temple became a place of learning.
When Khan failed, it offered him another opportunity to improve.
When he succeeded, it reminded him that there was still more to understand.
The Temple was his home.
It still brought him peace.
But now, that peace carried sorrow.
Dooku would never walk through these halls again.
Yoda would never sit within the Council chamber.
Khan would never hear his master enter without knocking because he already knew Khan was awake.
He would never find Yoda waiting inside a training hall with another lesson Khan had not requested.
Their absence remained everywhere.
Khan allowed himself to feel it.
Pain moved through him.
The memory of Dooku falling returned.
Khan standing too far away to stop it.
Anger followed.
It gathered in his chest and moved through his arms.
The air inside the chamber grew warmer.
The objects resting upon his shelves began to tremble.
Khan did not push the anger away.
He did not reach deeper into it.
He observed it.
The anger belonged to him.
So did the pain.
Neither would disappear because he refused to acknowledge them.
The dark side moved at the edge of his awareness.
It remained familiar now.
That frightened him more than when it had first answered.
On the storm-covered world, Khan had reached toward the darkness and discovered strength.
He had crushed the creature beneath the waterfall.
Taken power from the mountain's storm.
Forged a weapon within a Sith Sanctum.
He had used anger to survive.
Used hatred to resist.
Used his desire for revenge to continue when his body should have failed.
The dark side had not consumed him.
But it had not left him either.
Khan could feel it waiting within every painful memory.
Offering power.
Promising that he would never be helpless again.
He opened his eyes.
The objects inside the chamber became still.
Khan released a slow breath.
Several days of meditation had not brought him peace.
Perhaps peace was not something he could command.
The thought troubled him.
Dooku taught him to observe.
Yoda taught him patience.
Both had guided his understanding of the Force.
Now, Khan possessed neither of them.
He had been made a Jedi Knight before he understood what it meant to live without his master.
Then he returned to Tatooine.
Afterward came the forgotten planet.
The cultists.
The children.
Malgus.
Khan had not been given time to understand one loss before being forced to confront another.
He was not consumed by grief.
He could still laugh with Kit.
He could still sit beside Aayla and enjoy the silence.
He still believed the galaxy could become better.
But he was not at peace.
His pain remained.
So did his anger.
And beneath both rested his hatred for the Sith Lord who killed Dooku.
Khan looked toward the low table beside him.
Two weapons rested upon it.
The first had been separated into several broken pieces.
Dooku's curved lightsaber.
Its frame had been crushed. Its emitter was broken, and the internal mechanisms could no longer connect.
Khan had cleaned every piece after returning to the Temple.
He had attempted to repair it again.
Nothing changed.
The weapon was gone.
His master's teachings were not.
Beside the broken pieces rested Khan's new lightsaber.
Its dark frame absorbed much of the room's light. Gold bearings surrounded the wider sections of its hilt. The weapon was heavier than the one Khan lost inside the cultists' pit.
It had been forged in the heart of a Sith Citadel.
The crystal within it carried everything Khan placed inside.
Anger.
Hatred.
Grief.
Love.
Hope.
Purpose.
The dark side had been the strongest current moving through him when the weapon was created.
Its existence proved what Khan had done.
It also proved that the darkness did not possess everything he was.
Khan reached out.
The lightsaber lifted from the table.
It crossed the distance between them and entered his hand.
Blue sparks moved between the gold bearings.
The crystal responded to him.
Khan felt its power.
It made him stronger.
It was also his greatest vulnerability.
If the Council discovered the weapon, they would ask where it came from.
They would examine the crystal.
They would feel what remained inside it.
Some would attempt to understand.
Others would see only the darkness.
Khan thought of Ki-Adi-Mundi watching him during his report.
The questions.
The suspicion.
The Council knew he had not told them everything.
They were Jedi Masters.
Khan could not expect otherwise.
He held the weapon before him.
The Jedi had introduced him to the Force.
They taught him discipline.
Compassion.
Restraint.
The responsibility carried by those with power.
Malgus had shown him another path.
Power without hesitation.
Strength gained through emotion.
The refusal to accept chains placed upon him by others.
Both paths contained truth.
Both had failed those who followed them.
Khan had watched the Jedi ignore suffering beyond the Core Worlds while they protected the stability of the Republic.
He had seen what ancient Sith created when power became more important than life.
Enslavement.
War.
Entire worlds consumed by another person's ambition.
The Jedi Code offered peace.
The Sith Code offered freedom.
But neither had explained what power was meant to serve.
He lowered the weapon.
There were three things he needed to do.
He would find the Sith Lord responsible for Dooku's death.
He would avenge his master.
He would discover what the Force truly meant to him.
Not what the Council commanded him to believe.
Not what Malgus attempted to forge him into.
And he would find his purpose.
Strength without purpose became destruction.
Malgus had taught him that, even if he had not intended to.
Khan looked through the window.
Coruscant extended in every direction.
Beyond it were thousands of worlds the Republic rarely remembered.
People who disappeared without reports being filed.
Children taken because no one expected anyone to search for them.
Planets where suffering had become ordinary.
Khan wanted to help them.
He wanted to do something real.
None of his questions could be answered while he remained inside the Temple pretending that meditation alone would resolve them.
He needed to leave.
The realization did not arrive suddenly.
It had followed him for days.
Through every meditation.
Every walk through the Temple.
Every conversation he ended before someone asked too much.
Khan had resisted it because leaving meant abandoning the only home he had ever known.
Now, he understood.
He was not abandoning the Jedi.
He was leaving so he could discover what kind of Jedi he needed to become.
A knock came from the door.
Khan's attention shifted.
The new lightsaber disappeared beneath his robes.
He moved Dooku's broken weapon into the open case resting beside the table and closed it.
Another knock followed.
Khan rose.
"Who is it?"
A young voice answered from the corridor.
"It's Anakin."
Khan stopped.
"I heard you were back."
Some of the tension left his shoulders.
Khan raised one hand.
The door opened.
Anakin Skywalker stood outside.
He wore the simple clothing of a Jedi youngling. His hair remained short, and the excitement that usually followed him was quieter than Khan remembered.
Anakin looked into the chamber.
"I hope I'm not bothering you."
"You aren't."
Khan stepped aside.
"Come in."
Anakin entered.
The door closed behind him.
Khan studied the boy.
Anakin looked toward the windows, then the shelves and the low table. His attention briefly moved toward the closed case.
He did not ask what was inside.
"How have you been?" Khan asked.
"I'm all right."
"That does not sound convincing."
Anakin looked toward him.
Khan gestured toward one of the seats.
"Sit."
Anakin obeyed.
Khan sat across from him.
"You came here because something is bothering you."
Anakin lowered his gaze.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Khan waited.
Dooku had often done the same with him.
Silence gave someone the opportunity to decide which words belonged to them.
"You can tell me," Khan said. "At the very least, I am your friend."
Anakin looked up.
"Do you think I can become a great Jedi?"
Khan had expected many questions.
That was not one of them.
"You only began training recently."
"I know."
"Then why are you already deciding that you might fail?"
Anakin shifted in his seat.
"We learned about the Jedi Code today."
Khan listened.
"The instructor said Jedi must release their emotions so we can find peace."
Anakin's hands closed together.
"But I'm always thinking about my mother."
Khan remained still.
"I miss her," Anakin continued. "I wonder whether she's safe. Sometimes I think about going back for her."
Pain entered his voice.
"I love her."
Anakin looked toward Khan.
"If Jedi aren't supposed to feel those things, then I don't know if I can become one."
Khan thought of the words he had repeated throughout his childhood.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
For years, the meaning seemed clear.
A Jedi could not allow emotion to control their judgment.
Now, Khan wondered whether the words had become too easy to misunderstand.
He thought of Dooku.
The pain of losing him had nearly destroyed Khan.
It had also brought him to the children inside the cave.
His love for his master gave his grief meaning.
His love for his friends prevented the Emperor's fragment from taking control of his mind.
His emotions had not only brought darkness.
They had given him something to protect.
"I don't believe loving someone makes you incapable of becoming a Jedi," Khan said.
Anakin watched him closely.
"Then the Code is wrong?"
"No."
Khan considered his answer.
"But sometimes words can be repeated for so long that people forget to ask what they mean."
Anakin's expression tightened in thought.
"A Jedi cannot erase emotion," Khan continued. "You cannot decide that you no longer love your mother. Pretending otherwise would not bring you peace."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Understand what you feel."
Khan looked toward the window.
"Love can teach you compassion. It can help you understand what another person is afraid to lose."
He thought of his own anger.
"But fear can also make you act without thinking. Anger can convince you that hurting someone is the same as protecting those you love."
Anakin lowered his gaze.
"You must learn the difference."
"How?"
Khan almost smiled.
"That is the difficult part."
Anakin looked back at him.
"You don't know?"
"I am beginning to understand how much I do not know."
The admission surprised Anakin.
Khan leaned forward.
"Your emotions are part of you. Do not allow anyone to convince you they can simply be erased."
He paused.
"But do not surrender your choices to them either."
Anakin listened without moving.
"Peace does not mean feeling nothing," Khan said. "Perhaps it means understanding what you feel and choosing what you will do with it."
The words remained between them.
Khan realized they were meant for him as much as Anakin.
His grief did not need to disappear.
Neither did his anger.
He needed to understand them.
To carry them without allowing them to determine every step he took.
For the first time since beginning his meditation, something inside Khan became quieter.
Not healed.
Not peaceful.
Understood.
Anakin slowly nodded.
"I think I understand."
"You will understand more as you continue training."
Anakin looked toward him.
"I think you would be a good master."
Khan blinked.
"What makes you believe that?"
Anakin appeared uncertain again.
Then he found the words.
"Because I feel safe with you."
Khan said nothing.
"You listen to me," Anakin continued. "You don't look at me like I've already done something wrong."
A small smile appeared across his face.
"When I become a Padawan, I wish you could be my master."
Khan looked at the boy sitting across from him.
Anakin possessed incredible potential.
Everyone within the Order could feel it.
But beneath that power remained a child separated from his mother and placed inside a world he did not understand.
The Jedi would teach him discipline.
They would teach him control.
Khan wondered whether they would remember to teach him that love did not make him broken.
Perhaps guiding someone else could become part of the purpose Khan sought.
He was only sixteen.
He had only just become a Jedi Knight.
He did not yet understand his own path.
That was why he could not accept a Padawan now.
But one day…
"I am leaving the Temple," Khan said.
Anakin's smile disappeared.
"What?"
"I intend to travel through the galaxy."
"Why?"
"Because there are answers I cannot find here."
Anakin looked toward the closed door.
"Is the Council sending you away?"
"Not yet."
Khan almost smiled.
"I still need to speak with Grand Master Plo Koon."
"Then you might not be leaving."
"I believe I am."
Anakin looked down.
"When will you come back?"
"I don't know."
The answer hurt more than Khan expected.
He would not lie to the boy.
Anakin remained quiet.
Khan reached forward and placed one hand against his shoulder.
"Continue your training."
Anakin looked up.
"Learn everything the Temple can teach you. Listen to your instructors, but never stop asking what their lessons mean."
Khan's expression became serious.
"When I return, if you still want me as your master, I will stand before the Council and ask for the right to train you."
Anakin's eyes widened.
"You mean it?"
"Yes."
"You promise?"
Khan thought about everything the promise required.
He needed to survive.
To return without losing himself.
To become someone capable of guiding another person through the Force.
The responsibility should have frightened him.
It did.
"I promise."
Anakin smiled.
Khan moved his hand and lightly pressed it against the top of the boy's head.
"But that means you must continue your training."
"I will."
"And stay out of trouble."
Anakin hesitated.
"I'll try."
"That is not as reassuring as you believe."
Anakin laughed.
Khan's expression softened.
For a moment, he did not feel like a weapon forged by loss.
He was simply Khan.
Later that night, Khan walked Anakin back to the younglings' quarters.
The Temple had grown quieter.
Most of the training halls were empty. The lights had been lowered throughout the residential levels.
Several younglings remained awake when Khan arrived.
They looked toward the entrance.
Anakin entered beside a Jedi Knight.
Surprise moved across their faces.
One of them whispered something to another.
Anakin appeared pleased by the attention.
Khan looked down at him.
"Go."
Anakin nodded.
He crossed the room before turning back.
"You'll come back."
Khan heard certainty rather than a question.
"Yes."
Anakin smiled once more.
The doors closed between them.
Khan stood outside for several seconds.
The promise followed him as he turned away.
He could no longer think only about revenge.
Someone expected him to return.
Khan went back to his chambers.
The decision he had considered for days had become real.
He collected the few belongings he intended to take.
Clothing.
Credits.
A communicator.
Medical supplies.
A navigation reader containing maps of the Outer Rim.
He placed Dooku's broken lightsaber inside a protective case.
His new weapon remained beneath his robes.
Khan looked around the chamber.
Most of what he owned would remain here.
He did not know how long he would be gone.
He did not know where his search would begin.
But disappearing without speaking to anyone would turn his journey into an escape.
Khan would not run from the Jedi.
He left his chambers and moved through the Temple.
His steps eventually brought him to the quarters of Grand Master Plo Koon.
Khan stopped before the entrance.
He raised one hand.
Then he knocked.
"Enter."
The door opened.
Khan stepped inside.
The chamber carried fewer decorations than his own. Several artifacts from distant worlds rested upon the walls, but most of the space remained open.
Plo Koon sat upon a low meditation platform.
His back faced the entrance.
Khan stopped several steps inside.
"Grand Master."
"Sit."
Khan lowered himself onto the floor.
Plo remained in meditation.
For several moments, neither spoke.
Khan felt the older Jedi's presence within the Force.
Calm.
Patient.
Nothing inside it demanded an answer from him.
"I did not expect you to visit tonight," Plo said.
His eyes remained closed.
"But it appears you have made a decision."
Khan looked toward him.
"Yes, Grand Master."
Plo waited.
Khan gathered his thoughts.
"I did not want to disappear without speaking to you."
"That is wise."
"I know the Council believes my report was incomplete."
Plo opened his eyes.
Khan continued.
"They were correct."
Plo did not turn toward him.
"What did you leave unsaid?"
Khan's hand moved beneath his robe.
He felt the unfamiliar weight of the golden lightsaber.
He could reveal it now.
Show Plo what he had forged.
Explain everything Malgus had taught him.
For a moment, Khan wanted to.
Then he imagined the weapon being taken.
The Council summoned.
Questions deciding his future before he understood it himself.
Khan lowered his hand.
"Things I am not ready to explain."
Plo accepted the answer without approval or condemnation.
"And you believe leaving will help you understand them?"
"Yes."
Khan looked toward the Grand Master.
"I have begun to walk a different path."
Plo's meditation platform slowly rotated until he faced Khan.
"A path apart from the Jedi?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
"A path within the Force that I must understand for myself."
Plo studied him through the protective lenses covering his eyes.
Khan continued.
"I have spent days attempting to find peace within the Temple."
"And failed?"
"I discovered that peace cannot be forced."
A quiet approval entered Plo's presence.
"My anger remains," Khan said. "So does my grief."
He thought of the weapon beneath his robes.
"I do not believe hiding from those emotions will help me understand them."
"And what do you intend to do?"
"Travel."
Khan met Plo's gaze.
"I want to see the worlds the Republic ignores. Help the people who have been left without anyone else."
He paused.
"I need to understand what my strength is meant to serve."
Plo remained silent.
"I need to discover what the Force means beyond the Codes of the Jedi and Sith."
The room became still.
Khan realized he had spoken more directly than he intended.
Plo did not react to the mention of the Sith.
Instead, he asked a simple question.
"Do you still see the Jedi as your friends?"
Khan held his gaze.
"The Jedi are my family."
There was no uncertainty in his voice.
"This Temple is my home. Nothing I discover will change that."
Plo lowered his head.
"Master Yoda was often willing to bend the rules for you."
Khan's chest tightened at the name.
"He believed your questions would one day strengthen the Order."
Plo looked toward him.
"I am not Yoda."
Khan waited.
For a moment, he believed the Grand Master would refuse.
Order him to remain within the Temple.
Place him under the observation of the Council.
Perhaps Plo should have.
Khan was sixteen.
A newly raised Knight burdened by grief and carrying secrets touched by the dark side.
Allowing him to leave alone carried risks neither of them could fully understand.
Plo continued.
"But I believe in you."
Khan's expression changed.
Plo's voice remained calm.
"I believe the answers you seek may one day help guide this Order through a time of great darkness."
Khan did not know why the Grand Master possessed such faith in him.
He had given Plo reasons for doubt.
Plo offered trust instead.
The weight Khan carried did not disappear.
For the first time, someone helped him carry it.
"You will leave as a Jedi Knight," Plo said. "Not as an exile."
Khan listened.
"I will assign you to an independent mission beyond the Core Worlds. You will offer aid where the Republic's authority has failed to reach."
"That could take years."
"Then I suggest you do not waste them."
Khan lowered his head.
A brief warmth entered Plo's voice.
"You will observe disturbances within the Force and report anything that may concern the Order."
"And the Council?"
"They will know that I sent you."
Plo leaned slightly forward.
"They do not need to know every answer before you have discovered it yourself."
Khan understood what Plo was offering.
Freedom without abandoning responsibility.
Trust without pretending there was no danger.
"Thank you, Grand Master."
"Do not thank me yet."
Plo raised one hand.
A small metal access cylinder lifted from a table near the wall.
It crossed the chamber.
Khan caught it.
He studied the markings along its surface.
"What is this?"
"Access authorization for a starfighter."
Khan looked up.
"I was not aware one had been assigned to me."
"It was not."
Plo rose from the meditation platform.
"The craft was assigned to me."
Khan stared at the access cylinder.
Plo moved toward the window.
"The Order recently received several Delta-7 starfighters for evaluation. At present, they have only been distributed among members of the Council."
Khan had heard of the vessels.
The Delta-7 was still a new design.
Built for speed.
Navigation.
Long-distance travel.
It possessed weapons, but not enough to compete with dedicated military fighters.
The craft had been made for Jedi moving alone through the galaxy.
"You are giving me your starfighter?" Khan asked.
"I have not yet had the opportunity to use it."
"Then I cannot accept this."
Plo looked toward him.
"You are not being given a possession."
Coruscant's lights reflected across his protective lenses.
"You are being given a way forward."
Khan looked at the access cylinder again.
"The fighter has been prepared for extended navigation," Plo continued. "Its systems have access to a hyperspace ring stationed above Coruscant."
"Does it have an astromech?"
"An R3-series unit."
Plo turned back toward him.
"R3-T9."
Khan had never owned a starfighter.
He had never traveled without a master or a team waiting beside him.
The access cylinder felt heavier than it should.
"I don't know where I am going first," Khan admitted.
"Does R3-T9?"
Khan looked toward Plo.
The Grand Master's expression could not be read beneath his mask.
Khan suspected the question carried quiet amusement.
"No."
"Then perhaps you may discover that together."
Khan rose.
He bowed deeply.
"I will repay your faith."
Plo watched him.
"Faith is not a debt, Khan."
Khan lifted his head.
"Remember who you are. That will be enough."
Khan turned toward the entrance.
The door opened.
Before he stepped through it, he stopped.
"Please give my regards to Master Windu."
Plo folded his hands behind his back.
"You may give them to him yourself when you return."
Khan nodded.
Then he left.
The Temple hangar was nearly empty.
Maintenance droids moved between parked transports. Their mechanical arms passed across open panels while quiet voices echoed from the technicians working through the night.
Khan entered carrying one travel pack.
The Delta-7 waited near the end of the hangar.
Its narrow frame rested upon its landing struts. The design appeared smaller than Khan expected. Its curved wings led toward a pointed forward section built for speed rather than heavy armor.
The markings of the Jedi Order rested along its frame.
It had been prepared for Plo Koon.
Now, it waited for Khan.
A yellow light appeared near the astromech socket.
A droid's dome turned toward him.
R3-T9 released a series of electronic tones.
Khan stopped beneath the fighter.
"I assume you already know who I am."
The droid answered.
Khan did not understand every sound.
He understood enough.
"No, I have never flown a Delta-7."
R3-T9 released another series of tones.
Khan looked up at the droid.
"I was told you had not either."
The astromech replied more loudly.
Khan almost smiled.
"I believe we will get along."
He climbed into the cockpit.
The interior had been built for a single Jedi. Navigation systems surrounded the central controls. The displays contained routes through the Core Worlds, Mid Rim, and Outer Rim.
Khan secured his belongings.
Dooku's broken lightsaber rested within the travel pack.
The golden weapon remained against his side.
He placed the access cylinder into the console.
The Delta-7 awakened.
Lights moved across the displays.
R3-T9 connected with the navigation systems.
The hangar doors began to open.
Coruscant waited beyond them.
Khan looked back toward the Temple.
He had arrived here as a child.
He had become Dooku's Padawan within its halls.
Learned from Yoda.
Sparred with Kit.
Sat beside Aayla.
Argued with Mace.
Listened to Plo.
Promised Anakin he would return.
Leaving hurt.
Khan allowed himself to feel it.
The pain did not weaken him.
It reminded him why he needed to come back.
R3-T9 released a questioning tone.
Khan looked toward the navigation display.
"No destination yet."
The droid responded.
"We'll decide once we reach the hyperspace ring."
Khan placed his hands against the controls.
The Delta-7 rose.
Its landing struts folded into the frame.
The fighter passed through the open hangar and entered the skies of Coruscant.
The Temple moved behind him.
Traffic separated around the Jedi craft as it climbed through the city.
Towers passed below.
The endless lights gradually became distant.
The Delta-7 left the atmosphere.
Stars appeared.
Ahead of them, a hyperspace ring waited in orbit.
R3-T9 transmitted the approach sequence.
The ring adjusted its position.
Khan guided the fighter into its center.
Mechanical locks connected with the Delta-7.
The navigation computer came alive.
Thousands of possible destinations appeared before him.
Khan was sixteen years old.
His master was dead.
The Jedi who had loved him like a grandfather was gone.
He carried grief he did not understand.
Anger he had not overcome.
Hatred he refused to surrender.
He was leaving the only home he had ever known to search for a path he could not see.
The choice frightened him.
Khan reached toward the navigation controls.
Fear was also an emotion.
It would not make the decision for him.
He entered the first coordinates.
The hyperspace ring activated.
Stars stretched across the cockpit.
The Delta-7 disappeared into the light.