"Stepfather?" The Daughter frowned in confusion. "What nonsense are you talking now, Brother?"
"Father's time is running short. Hmph." At that, the Son gave a cold laugh. "He's already searching for a successor to inherit the role of Keeper of Balance. That mortal who prayed to you is one of the ones Father has been watching most closely."
"You've been spying on Father?" The Daughter's brows shot up, her eyes blazing with anger. "How dare you spy on Father?!"
"Hmph. You saw it yourself—that mortal is nothing but a failure! The trial I laid for him was so simple, and he still couldn't handle it. He had to cheat by calling on you for help. A failure like that has no right to become the next Keeper of Balance!"
"Whether he is worthy or not is for Father to decide. It is not for you or me to—"
"All right, all right, my dear sister!" The Son cut her off. "Once Father is gone, so long as you and I live in harmony, won't the Force remain balanced anyway? Why would there be any need for some new 'Keeper of Balance'?"
"Father will recover. He will." The Daughter's voice was utterly firm. "And one more thing—I covered for you this time. But if you corrupt another world and disrupt the balance again, I'll tell Father and let him punish you."
"Fine, fine, fine." The Son raised both hands in mock surrender. "Whatever you say. It won't happen again, all right?"
Heh. Your strength weakens by the day, while mine only grows stronger. Next time? Next time, you won't have the strength to stop me.
...
Inside the Kom'rk's cargo hold, Ralkai asked, "Chief, are dark side Force-users like the Sith always evil?"
"Yes." Max Vizsla nodded. "There are rare exceptions, but as a rule, that's a fair way to think about it."
At that, Ralkai scratched his head and asked, "But you said there are exceptions. If we treat all dark side Force-users as villains, wouldn't that mean we might miss the good ones among them?"
"Searching for talent among ordinary people is like panning for gold in sand—it takes time, effort, and patience. But searching for good people among dark side Force-users..." Max paused and glanced toward the bowl of stew in front of Ralkai before continuing, "is more like panning for gold in a latrine. You're overwhelmingly likely to find nothing, and absolutely guaranteed to come away disgusted. I don't think it's worth the trouble."
"Ugh—"
After recovering from that image, Ralkai asked another question.
"If that's true, then why do you encourage me to pursue balance instead of pursuing only the light?"
"If a world lies too close to its sun, the light and heat are too fierce, and life can hardly survive. If it lies too far away, the light is too weak and the cold too deep, and life can hardly survive there either. Only a planet that sits at the right distance—within the habitable zone—can truly support life."
"So that's the meaning of balance between light and dark?" Ralkai blurted out.
"It is."
Then Max went on, using planets and ecosystems as examples, explaining the importance of death and of the dark side of the Force.
"If a world had only birth and no death, then its resources would soon be exhausted, wouldn't they? Birth and growth matter. But aging and death matter too. The light side of the Force, which stands for birth and growth, is important. And the dark side of the Force, which stands for decay and death, is important as well."
"Balance is the way of nature, the way of the universe, and the way of the Force."
"Yes, yes!" Ralkai nodded vigorously. "I understand, Chief! I'll follow the path of balance in the Force!"
"But..." Max raised his right index finger for emphasis. "Even though the dark side and the light side are equally important, the dark side is far more dangerous. In practice, we must be extremely careful with it."
"Why is that?"
"In psychology, emotions like anger, pain, fear, and grief are called negative emotions. And Force-sensitives usually need to stir those emotions in order to draw on the dark side. But once they do, the dark side in turn magnifies those emotions even further, creating a vicious cycle that almost inevitably pushes the user toward evil."
"Almost inevitably? Then there is a way to avoid that?"
"There is." Max gave him a thumbs-up. "Negative emotions may be called negative, but that doesn't mean they have no positive value."
"Let me give you an example." Max pointed at Christopher Wren. "If someone murdered your father, would you have any right to be angry? Any right to grieve?"
"Uh..." Ralkai scratched his head. "Chief, could you maybe use a different example?"
"It's fine, it's fine," Chris said with a wave. "No harm done."
"If someone killed a Jedi's father, most Jedi would choose to suppress or avoid their anger and grief, because they see negative emotion as a mortal threat. They fear it will drag them into the dark side. Many Jedi, in order to preserve the light within themselves, would refuse to take revenge on the murderer. You wouldn't want to become that kind of person, would you?"
"No!" Ralkai shook his head emphatically.
"If someone killed a Sith's father..." Max paused. "Though in truth that's difficult, because many Sith, in pursuit of the most extreme negative emotions and the power of the dark side those emotions fuel, kill their own fathers and mothers first—leaving no parents for any enemy to murder."
"Ah!"
"You wouldn't want to become that kind of person either, would you?"
"No!" Ralkai shook his head even harder.
"The Jedi and the Sith are both too extreme in how they deal with negative emotions. Neither path is worth following. We should treat both positive and negative emotions with balance. Toward friends, be as warm as spring. Toward enemies, be as harsh and merciless as winter."
"I understand, Chief!"
"And now we face an even more serious problem. The Force itself has grown sick. The dark side of the Force—or at least the god who embodies the will of the dark side—may have fallen into corruption."
"Then what do we do?"
"What do we do?" Max laughed. "We find a different god."
...
"All right." Max rose to his feet and headed for the hatch. "We've rested enough. Time to continue our exploration."
Life came first. Max had no intention of continuing the search for Csilla on this trip.
Hyperspace travel through the Unknown Regions depended heavily on navigation through the Force. If the Son interfered again and threw them off course, the Kom'rk—with its limited endurance—would be in real danger. Max decided that next time, when he had the chance, he would bring a much larger ship and continue the search then.
For now, he would conduct only a preliminary exploration of Exegol, then retrace his route back to Ilum, then Tehar, and from there return to Bespin by way of Jedha.
Exegol was a treasure world, rich in resources. In the later timeline of the original history, during the First Order-Resistance War, Sienar Fleet Systems and Kuat Drive Yards, working hand in hand with the Sith Eternal, secretly built an enormous fleet on this planet.
"Yes, Chief!"
The father and son of House Wren rose to their feet and followed after him.
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STAR WARS: THE RISE OF MANDALORE
🛡️🔥 STAR WARS: THE RISE OF MANDALORE 🔥🛡️
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