Epilogue: I, Warrior

"… after that, there's not much to tell, really," Tahiri said to Master Skywalker. "Most of the warriors, adepts, and acolytes surrendered when Keenah told them too, and she helped us subdue some of the troublemakers. Jaina contacted the Alliance fleet and they sent a Mon Cal cruiser to escort the coralcraft to a moon on the edge of the Unknown Regions, where Sekot will send representatives to take custody of them. Ziil went with them- I imagine on Sekot they're already telling stories about how he fought beside the Slayer of Shedao Shai to defeat Kizin Qel the Mad Master Shaper." She spread her hands. "Then we came back to Ossus to report to you."

Master Skywalker was quiet for a moment as he seemed to take everything in. He was the first to whom Tahiri had told the full story of the Master's true nature and how she'd defeated him, and she found herself wondering nervously what he'd say. Finally, he just shook his head. "We probably should have seen something like that coming," he said, "but it's still hard to believe that the Yuuzhan Vong actually managed to clone Anakin- and I don't think anyone expected a Sith spirit to possess the body." He looked directly at Tahiri. "And speaking of spirits, I'd like to talk with you more later about what happened when Anakin- the real Anakin- manifested through the clone's body. I've seen plenty of Force spirits before, but never anything quite like that."

"It was him," Tahiri whispered. "For a little while, at least, the real Anakin was there. I think it was an effect of our bond, but beyond that, it's as much a mystery to me as to what really happened there."

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Master Skywalker asked, looking concerned. "To have to kill someone who looked exactly like the person you loved and to see his spirit just before you did it can't have been easy."

"I'll be fine," Tahiri told him. "I made my peace with what happened to Anakin when my old selves merged together- seeing him again was hard, but like the Code says: there is no death, there is the Force. I'll make it."

Master Skywalker put his hand on her shoulder. "You will," he said quietly. "There is something else that you said that troubles me. The Sith spirit that inhabited Anakin's clone was released from the crystal when Jacen fought Onimi; you said the Master described that battle as a shockwave in the Force. It makes me worried that there might be other things out there in the galaxy that felt that shockwave and were woken up by it – things that might have been better off not being disturbed. I'll tell the Council to get word out, make sure that if anyone runs across anything unusual, they'll know to tell us. Hopefully it's nothing, but I think we'd better be sure. So, is there anything else you had?"

"One more thing, actually," Tahiri said, standing and walking over to the door of the Skywalkers' dwelling. "I brought someone with me who wanted to meet you. I think you'll be interested to talk to them."

Master Skywalker stood as well, looking intrigued, as Tahiri opened the door. A tall woman in heavy brown robes with the hood up stepped inside. She looked around briefly as if to make sure that she and the two Jedi were alone, and then reached up two taloned hands and pulled her hood back, revealing a face that might almost have been human save for its too-angular shape, and were it not for its slate-grey skin, flat nose, and intricate network of tattoos and scars.

"You are the Master Jeedai?" Keenah asked.

"I am," Master Skywalker said. "You must be the priestess Tahiri told me about- the one that can touch the Force. I'd actually been hoping to talk to you- I only know of only one other member of your species who had the Force, and he died fighting my nephew. I would like to hear your story."

"I would like to tell it. I am a member of the priest caste, a servant of the gods' will," Keenah said. "Twice I thought I had found a conduit to that will, but both the old ways of my people and the ways of the Sith have failed me. Both fell before the Jeedai." She paused and drew a deep breath, as if what she was about to say was extremely difficult. "I believed I was chosen by the gods for a special destiny. I was wrong – or perhaps it was the destiny I thought I had found that was wrong. I surrender myself not to your Galactic Alliance or to the world called Zonama Sekot, but to the Jeedai, for I still seek the will of the gods. Perhaps it is your way that will finally help me find it."

/

Tahiri sat in the cockpit of Memories of Yavin, using the Force to balance her lightsaber on the tip of one finger as she stared out the viewports at the landscape of Ossus, a planet that had been brutally damaged but not destroyed, not broken. Like me, she thought.

Ever since her integration- or even before that, since her shaping- Tahiri had been plagued by a single question: who am I? A human raised by the Tusken Raiders and a Jedi who had almost become a Yuuzhan Vong, it was difficult for her to sort out anything close to an answer. But now, thinking on it, she thought she knew.

She was a warrior. Not a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, driven to fight for the gods' glory, but an indomitable spirit, someone driven to fight for her friends, her beliefs, and her own identity because someone had to. She was someone who had been tried terribly, but had emerged from her trials as someone strong. Maybe Anakin's vision of her was still her destiny, but she didn't think it was any more than becoming a second Darth Vader had truly been his. She had chosen to reject the false Anakin, the Master, and though she might falter, she remained determined to reject the dark, to fight against it.

Tahiri flipped her lightsaber into the air and caught it, hanging it on her belt. She didn't know what her future held in store, but for now, she was determined to face it and survive. It was who she was.

/

And so it ends! I feel like this short epilogue is mostly straightforward, tying off some loose ends for Tahiri and Keenah and giving some brief reflection on Tahiri's arc and why I named the fic what I did. As I've mentioned previously, I was deeply disappointed with how the post NJO - Dark Nest through Fate of the Jedi – handled Tahiri's storyline, and in particular how disconnected it felt from where Final Prophecy left her. There were essentially three main focuses of Tahiri's storyline in the NJO, in my opinion, and they were her relationship with Anakin, her shaping and its aftermath, and Anakin's vision of her potential dark destiny. The post-NJO stories more-or-less ignored the first two and badly regressed her on the first so that Caedus could manipulate her. My goal with this fic was to follow up more directly on Keyes's characterization of Tahiri across his NJO books (and to a lesser extent the NJO as a whole) and bring some closure to all three of those arcs, since even Final Prophecy – the last book to really focus heavily on Tahiri before she got derailed – still didn't feel like an end to her story. I hope I succeeded!

Several years ago, after I finished the first iteration of this story, I considered launching a longer series of fics with a wider scope that would serve as a sort of NJO-sequel that never was. When the Disney buyout happened, I ended up scrapping the idea after a few chapters. I'm considering returning to it now, but with a somewhat different format, as a series of rotating stories focusing on different next-generation Jedi but with running subplots that will ultimately tie together, a bit like a Star Wars version of the Marvel movieverse. Tentative series title, Knights of the Galactic Alliance, with focus character of the next fic probably being Tenel Ka (if I do decide to go through with this, I, Warrior will likely retroactively become Knights of the Galactic Alliance Book I). If I do, I hope some of you will stick around for the ride! If not, I'm still happy with where I was able to leave Tahiri (and Keenah!) and I'd like to thank everyone who's stuck with us on this journey. May the Force be with you!

-MasterGhandalf