SPOILER

SPOILER

SPOILER

The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness

In the prologue we see Pra-Tre Veter captive of the Nihil. His left hand is gone. It’s been calcified by the Nameless when he succumbed to its effects before they dragged the Nameless away and threw him in a cell and experimented on him while he was unconscious. The Nihil have cut off Veter’s horns to humiliate him but he does not care. He knows he’ll be one with the Force soon. Marchion Ro comes in igniting Loden’s lightsaber, while being annoyed at Ro’s usage of the lightsaber Veter’s hope somewhat returns as he attempts to use the Force to call the lightsaber to him but due to the Nameless being on the ship he can’t. Marchion then leaves Veter in the cell.

Elzar Mann waits to speak to Chancellor Soh and thinks of Stellan and Avar. He thinks of the scene we see in Shadows of Starlight 2 where he tells Avar what he did to Chancey Yarrow. He misses both of his friends. JJ-5145 comes to tell him Chancellor Soh is ready for him.

We see Bell Zettifar in command of a Pacifier-class ship called the Tractate. We learn him, and Burryaga were with Pra-Tre Veter when he was captured two months prior. Veter volunteered to hold of the wave of Nihil while Bell and Burryaga evacuated the settlement while Veter was eventually overwhelmed and taken captive behind the Stormwall. Bell becomes the exception to the Guardian protocols set as he is given permission to fulfill his “self-imposed mission” of defending the worlds near the Stormwall from the Nihil. While the majority of the Jedi focused on defeating the Nameless and breaching the Stormwall Bell along with Mirro Lox and Amadeo Azzazzo continue to attempt to foil their raids and keep the Nihil from hurting anyone else while trying to obtain a Nihil Path drive. Burryaga has joined him. They were both Knighted after Bell found him and they returned to Coruscant from Eiram. Bell has been learning Shryiiwook 🤣. The Bell Zettifar now of very different than the one we’ve seen before. Bell is about to meditate at Burryaga’s suggestion when the alarms go off having received a distress signal originating on the planet Ribento.

Elzar meets with Chancellor Soh as she goes over her speech for the one year anniversary since the fall of Starlight. We learn she has a prosthetic leg after Valo. She’s debating recognizing the Nihil and their territory due to pressure from the Senate and the stress of her son Kitrep being behind the Stormwall in the Occlusion Zone with his boyfriend Jom Lariin but Elzar helps her see the wrongness of it.

In the Ribento system Bell, Burryaga and the crew of the Tractate attempt to disable the ship, Cacophony, commanded by Melis Shryke the one responsible for the abduction of Grand Master Pra-Tre Veter. Melis Shryke is from the planet Bantoo a planet sealed off in the Occlusion Zone. When the Nihil Minister of Protection General Viess arrived demanding tithes, the planet refused. Shryke, born wealthy but never free in her eyes, kills her father and two of his Chief Advisor’s “minions” then grabbed all the credits she could carry then walked to Viess saying she’ll pay the tithes but she wants in. Six months later (now), she runs her own ship with her own crew. She hates the Jedi for wanting to ruin the first and only time she’s ever had fun but she can’t kill them she’s been ordered to capture them and bring them back to the Nihil base on Hetzal as fodder for “those horrible creatures”. There’s a new Nihil tech that creates a field that prevents any Jedi’s lightsaber from working. WOW they’ve been busy! Shryke is only do it to enjoy the chaos. The Nihil breach the Tractate. As the ship evacuates Bell and Burryaga fight off the droids but then reinforcements arrive and the Cacophony retreats. The Tractate is saved.

On Coruscant on the eve before the one year anniversary of the Fall of Starlight, Chancellor Lina Soh gives her speech of hope. It has become known that Ghirra Starros is in league with the Nihil having reached out not to sue for peace but to inform them nothing would happen on the anniversary and to seek open diplomatic channels. Elzar Mann watches hoping all is true with JJ-5145 when he is approached by Ry Ki-Sakka, recently promoted to Grand Master after the loss of Starlight and disappearance of Grand Master Pra-Tre Veter. As Elzar and Ry have a somewhat heated debate as to what to do and how Elzar feels about surviving we learn what others are doing. Like Bell and Burryaga, Mirro Lox and Amadeo Azzazzo are trying to get a Nihil Path drive. Reath Silas and Emerick Caphtor are seeking a solution to the Nameless while others are working “tirelessly” to find a way to bypass the Stormwall into the Occlusion Zone. Ry says there’s no more to be done but to trust in the Force. Elzar suggests taking the fight to the Nihil, which Ry says they’ve done that as Elzar knows and has seen the results. Elzar suggests the full might of the Jedi and the Republic Defense Coalition could possibly achieve it but is shut down by Ry as that would leave the rest of the Republic “completely exposed”. Elzar knows Ry is right but hates to admit it. Before Ry Ki-Sakka leaves he reminds Elzar that’s he’s there to talk to if he needs to. Elzar feels empty, hollow and alone.

We see just how foolish and naive Ghirra Starros is. She may have reorganized the Nihil from Tempests to Ministers such as herself as the Minister of Information, Viess as the Minister of Protection, and Boolan the Minister of Advancement, Ro silently allowed it but hated it. Starros notes on Marchion’s new personal guard a group called the She’ar. Arathab Fal is one of them. Word comes of Chancellor Soh’s speech and Marchion Ro promises that there will be death the next day as the Republic has forgotten the lesson the Nihil taught them a year ago. She is away of her actions and the blood on her hands. She did it for power, to be on the winning side, and for Avon Starros. When Ghirra tries to get Marchion to build bridges and send representatives he coldly says no and that he has no wish to do so. Marchion reminds her that while she was once a senator she is now a Nihil and not to forget it. As he walks away Ghirra notes that something troubles Marchion which poses a danger to them all.

🙌🏼PORTER ENGLE!!!!! He is on the planet Daedus. A planet once he and Creighton Sun. Had crashed on. He’s received the message Elzar Mann had transmitted all those months ago to Jedi behind the Stormwall. Engle has begun repairing an EX droids that operates on a different hyperdrive than that of a ship and hopes he can salvage parts from the crash site from over a hundred years ago and rebuild it to send a message to Coruscant.

In his room Elzar Mann is plagued by memories of the fall of Starlight. He thinks of how Bell Zettifar is how he used to be with Stellan and Avar. “The burning belief in his friends, in their will to survive, the immortality of youth”. How they believed nothing could tear them apart and how wrong they were. Only when he ignites Stellan’s lightsaber does he feel hopeful. Then JJ-5145 comes in telling him something is emerging from the Occlusion Zone.

Rhil Dairo is captive of the Nihil “because it amuses him to turn the mouthpiece of the Republic upon them”. She challenges her captor a Nihil, Petrik, to kill her when he threatens to but he says he won’t give her “a way out” she wants or the satisfaction. Marchion Ro and his three Ministers come in to witness whatever Rhil is about to broadcast. Marchion taunts Rhil about finding her voice. Marchion then asks everyone if they’re ready for the celebration. He says now is the time for the Republic’s reckoning. And to show them what it means to act against the Nihil. Rhil Dairo thinks of her time in captivity since the Stormwall went up and how the propoganda broacasts she’d been forced to do were a betrayal of everything she stood for. Working with a Nihil defector, Quith Meglar, she’d managed to encode her own messages in her broadcasts but this one she knew was different. On the anniversary of the fall of Starlight, she wasn’t broadcasting a message to the planets in the Occlusion Zone, she was broadcasting a message to the whole Galaxy against her will. Rhil worries of what people will think of her as she is only trying to survive. She witnesses the trial and execution of Pra-Tre Veter. The Great Leveler devours him and after all that is left is a pile of dust. Rhil throws up as she cries. Then Rhil notices Ghirra Starros looks disgusted as does Marchion Ro and she realizes not all is good as Ro would have them believe.

Elzar and Lina Soh watch together and she decides it’s time to act. Tighter defense around Coruscant and more RDC ships on the borders of the Stormwall.

Bell watches the broadcast on Hintis IV feeling guilty over the capture and death of Veter. He searches the footage for “her”. For Melis Shryke. She was the one who “lured” Veter in “using innocent people as bait” and “didn’t even have the decency to see the fruits of her labor firsthand”. Bell is set on her! He’s very different than before even what we see in Tales of Light and Life when he finds Burryaga. He draws the line and begins to think of capturing Melis when Burryaga comes in telling him they must go help the planet Phrill that’s being raided. When Zettifar asks of Shryke and she’s not said to be in command he’s somewhat chastised by Burryaga saying because they need their help. Bell then sets aside his need to bring Shryke to justice and sets out to fulfill his duty.

👏🏼AVAR KRISS!! In the Occlusion Zone on a Nihil transport ship, Avar Kriss and KC-78, “Estala Maru’s old astromech droid and the only friend she had in this forsaken corner of the galaxy”😭, have stowed away. Avar thinks of how she’s no longer resembled the Jedi she’d once been. All she has from her past is her lightsaber holster, and of course her recognizable face. Now she was just Avar. “No more marshal of Starlight Beacon. No more Hero of Hetzal” just Avar doing what needed to be done to help people. She knows she’s kidding herself as she feels alone, lost, adrift, in her darkest moments. She thinks of how she needs Elzar, Reath, Vernestra and Yoda but she’d left them all behind. “The song of the Force had become distant and discordant”. It lacks the peace and harmony it once provided. I have a feeling this wave of books is going to be extremely depressing it’s worse reading how Elzar and Avar are doing than reading how Vernestra was doing in Tales of Light and Life. Avar knows that while she had rationalized she was keeping an eye on the Nihil and trying to stop them she had only just been running away from “her failure” and those who needed her. As she highjacks the Nihil ship rendering the two Nihil unconscious she admits to KC-78 she knows that she did go easy on them. Thinking of how no matter what she still couldn’t kill indiscriminately even if they are Nihil.

No news for Elzar from Keven on breaking the Stormwall. And Avar, with the help of the pilot of the ship she commandeered, realizes that in getting rid of the Nihil on the ship they don’t have the codes to travel from planet to planet.

•As Marchion Ro speaks to Boolan. Boolan’s “children” are former Force-Sensitive beings he experimented on. They are to be Jedi-Hunters. Marchion Ro hears his fathers voice and we learn he’s been hearing his fathers voice and Marda Ro’s voice for the past few weeks.

Ghirra Starros is having second thoughts? Doubts? We learn Avon is as distant as ever. Of course she is. Ghirra speaks with Marchion about going to Coruscant exchanging to barter. She in her careful way chastises Marchion for how he rules. People in Occlusion Zone are starving and she tells him that his way will fail worse than the Republic ever has and that his way will cause those in the Occlusion Zone to rebel. Marchion Ro tells her the lesson the Republic hasn’t learned is, “that to win at this sort of game, you must become your enemy” and that there is another lesson that comes with it that Marchion just learned, which is “that in becoming your enemy, you lose after all”. He tells her to enjoy begging at the feet of the leaders on Coruscant saying for her to see how they’ll treat her as it’s “the only way you’ll learn”, and for her to give her to give the Jedi Council his regards. Was a bit on edge to be honest, I thought Ghirra Starros was going to die.

Melis Shryke meets with Viess and gets reprimanded pretty much for not capturing and Jedi despite having given Grand Master Pra-Tre Veter two months prior. Shryke has plans to kill Viess but they’re untold and Viess tells Shryke to change her look saying it’s flattering but it’s getting old knowing Shryke idolized her.

Bell and Burryaga save people from burning to death on Phrill and Bell is glad he listened to Burryaga deviating from their mission and fulfilling their duty to the people that need them.

Avar and the Ugnaught pilot, Belin, manage to get one of the scav droids trying to breach the ship in Prandril system.

On Daedus Porter Engle reaches the ship he and Creighton Sun had crashed in over a hundred years prior and finds the remains of an EX droid but he is found by a small group of Nihil and is forced to kill them.

Rhil Dairo is sending encoded messages with the help of a Nihil turncoat, Quith Meglar, a Halisite, a species unknown to Rhil. She didn’t turn him but she thinks she kind of pushed him to the point of helping her escape. Quith found being a Nihil liberating at first but as everything happened realized the life expectancy of them was short. He was planning to help a Jedi steal a Path drive. Rhil doesn’t trust Meglar but trusts his desire to live. Their messages go out with the Nihil broadcast on a repeating wave buried in the subwave of the broadcast. Meglar is paranoid of doing it due to the risk and that he’s signed on the Shryke’s crew.

Elzar Mann and Chancellor Lina Soh meet with Council members, Ry Ki-Sakka,Xo Lahru, Keaton Murag, and Soleil Agra, who are on Coruscant and Yarael Poof is there via holo from the Jedi Outpost on Kwenn.

Avar brings the food to the settlement on Prandril. When she realizes they’ll need more she goes back into the ship and doesn’t catch all of Rhil Dario’s hidden message but catches the word ‘Jedi’.

On Daedus, General Viess is the crashed shuttle and inspects the dead Nihil and immediately knows they died at the hands of Porter Engle as everything is “swift, precise, and clinical”. As much as it would serve her well to hand Engle to Marchion Ro she’d also enjoy it. A ruined old Pathfiner outpost, and an old communications relay on a small inhabited moon with Daedus being the third place. All a place where Jedi and Republic ships have been abandoned. Viess knows Porter is up to something. That’s why she put an alert within the Nihil for situations like this one. No ships have left Daedus so Viess thinks it’s likely he’s still there then kills Nool, the Nihil in charge of Daedus, for trying to set up his own “kingdom” on Daedus and to remind her people to not get ideas “too big for their boots”.

Elsewhere on Daedus, Porter is working on the Ex droid. He has gotten the thruster pod working. In a previous chapter he’d thought of his old age but now memories come to mind for him as he once again thinks of his old age. Creighton Sun, Stellan Gios, and Barash Silvain. The first time he’d met Avar Kriss. His weeklong debates with Yoda. Sparring with Rooper Nitani. Then he thinks of Barash again as he has so many memories of his sister. He hopes that her vow served her well and that she was out there away from the Nihil, the Occulsion Zone, and all the death and devastation. He thinks of how they’d have helped lead the fight to Marchion Ro if she were still by his side. But he pushes the thought aside respecting her choice but ultimately blaming General Viess. He’s wondered how much longer he will live as he’s over two centuries old and had doubts that he’ll ever leave the Occlusion Zone but it didn’t bother him as long as he found a way to help others escape, get his message to Elzar and the Council to help them find a way in. He has a dark thought of if there are any Jedi in the Zone having seen Pra-Tre Veter’s execution. He has his receiver working constantly for any messages of those in need or any organizing a resistance against the Nihil. He’d picked up Elzar’s message on the frequencies. As the suns set he finishes fixing the EX droid knowing he needs to leave. Aww the droid remembers him. As the droid runs a diagnostic, Porter goes around his ship to eat. The ship is a ship he’d stolen from “some hapless Nihil after ambushing their patrol on Exu Prime many months earlier”. The food he eats is no Nine-Egg Stew but he’s been living off of it. He thinks of how either his memory is going or he just never learned to the language on the food packets. He thinks of how in the Occlusion Zone, behind enemy lines, he was simply existing. But he brightens as it will all change as soon as the EX droid carried word all the way back to Coruscant life would begin again and the Jedi would be able to fight back. He gives the droid instructions to find Elzar Mann on Coruscant then he records his message.

Avar gets Rhil’s message. A time and a safe place to meet on Hetzal. Belin tells Avar he’s coming with her to help despite her protests.

Ghirra Starros arrives on Hetzal and is greeted by Chancellor Soh, Elzar, and Masters Soleil Agra, and Ry Ki-Sakka. She gives them gifts from behind the Stormwall and gives Ro’s regards to the Jedi Council. None trust her despite her mentions of peace and coexisting. Starros feels they should have a seat in the Senate.

Porter send the EX droid off. He can feel the Nihil searching for him. He hastily begins making repairs to the Torment so he can leave. Then he hears Rhil Dairo’s message. A plan formulates and he decides to go to the coordinates given. “He had an appointment to keep on Hetzal”.

Avar arrives on Hetzal. She leaves Belin and KC-78 on the ship incase she needs a quick getaway. Avar tells Belin if she isn’t back in two hours to leave and to take care of KC-78.

Elzar meets with Soh. After talking Soh makes her decision to reject Ghirra Starros’s proposal and to let their “guest” go. Then Keven sends word that there’s been a breakthrough.

Avar gets to the meeting and is met by Rhil and Quith Meglar. Rhil throws herself at Avar hugging her. The plan is for Meglar to smuggle Avar and Rhil onto Shryke’s ship the next day when they leave to go raiding along the border then for the three to make their escape and go their separate ways. Of course Avar doesn’t exactly trust him but agrees to the plan. Rhil and Quith make their way back while Avar heads back to the ship. I already see a flaw in the plan, what if Shryke brings a Nameless? And where was Porter?!

One of the Stormwall buoys is glitching and they found a possibility to get in!!! Soh gives the order to attack.

Chancellor Lina Soh pretty much puts Ghirra Starros in her place as she rejects her “offer”. Even calling Starros out that she backed the wrong side. Lina Soh was actually pretty badass in this moment.

Elzar meets with the Jedi Council members Yoda, Lahru, Ki-Sakka, and Murag and convinces them to raise a fleet of Jedi Vectors to join the Republic Defense Coalition in attacking the glitching buoy to breach the Stormwall.

General Viess brings Porter Engle’s EX droid to Marchion Ro. So his message didn’t get out but later Quith steals it to bring it Avar to as a sign of his commitment and for them to trust him.

Aboard a Longbeam Elzar Mann prepares to attack a buoy of the Stormwall with him in Vectors are old friends Indeera Stokes, Nooli Grang, Reade Somas, and five other Jedi along with Bell and Burryaga aboard the Tractate all under his command. They fire at buoy and breach in the Stormwall is made. Ships begin to jump but as they do the Stormwall repairs itself sealing once more eight Longbeams and the Jedi Vector Reade Somas flew all exploded. Guilt for lives lost and fury at the Nihil nearly overcome Elzar. He gives the order to stand down and for them to return home. Bell Zettifar and Burryaga are just as sad but Bell is still determined to bring down the Nihil.

Inside the Nihil fortress on Hetzal, Ghirra stands waiting patiently for Ro to acknowledge her. She tries to sugarcoat the rejection of Lina Soh saying they’ll take time to come around to the idea of the Nihil being represented in the Senate. He compliments her on her resolve then on her spine calling her out on telling him lies. She says they have no choice and that they’ll learn to accept them but then Ro tells her how the Jedi led an attack on the Stormwall. To Ghirra’a horror Ro has outwitted her. The Republic rejected their peace offering just as he knew they would then attacked. He’s expanding the Stormwall.

We see Bell attempt to get the Tractate to stay and let itself be stuck behind the expanding border but he is overridden.

On Coruscant Lina Soh, and the Jedi get the report of planets now in Nihil space. Marchion Ro sends a message claiming he is freeing more people from the oppressive Republic that denied their offer of peace.

We see Elzar depressed and dealing with the repercussions. He is sad and feeling alone. When he reaches out in the Force he can’t feel Avar and feels he’s lost her as well as himself.

Avar gets the news that the Stormwall has expanded and thinks Elzar was behind the attack.

Avar gets the news of the extension of the Stormwall. We learn she plans on altering the plan she has with Rhil and to hijack the Nihil ship.

Chancellor Lina Soh and Yoda meet. They reassure one another that they will deal with the Nihil together.

Rhil’s recordings have been found out by Petrik who tells Viess. Rhil Dairo and Quith Meglar have been made. Viess plans to let them meet and ambush them.

On Hintis IV, Bell is frustrated. Everyone is in a state of shock, or wallowing in grief. The RDC members either lost people in the attack or lost their worlds behind the Stormwall after it expanded. Bell and Burryaga have decided to double their efforts to get a Path drive. They’re looking at the data of past Nihil raids.

A depressed Elzar sends a message to Avar.

Avar, Rhil, and Quith are ambushed by Viess and Petrik. Quith is killed by Viess and Avar and Rhil are saved by Engle Porter! They leave in Avar’s ship.

The Chancellor and Elzar meet with the Council. I really do like the relationship the Chancellor and Elzar have cultivated. Every Council member is present except Yarael Poof who is in attendance via holo, Stellan and Veter’s seats remain empty. Lina Soh has decided to enter peace talks and give then Nihil legitimate representation in the Senate. The Jedi Council tells Lina Soh they are with her.

Avar Kriss and Porter Engle talk and pretty much do a compare and share. Porter gives her Elzar’s messages. 😭

Ro convenes his “Ministers” and he is not happy with Viess. Ghirra Starros thinks Viess should’ve been a politician. Ro tells Viess to bring him the Jedi. When Ghirra attempts her plans for peace saying to capture the Jedi as a bargaining tool it backfires on her. Viess leaves and one of Viess’ people go to Ghirra saying many agree with her.

Avar and Porter make their plan to infiltrate and hijack the Cacophony when it goes to raid the Seswenna Sector while Rhil and Belin decide they’ll stay in the Occlusion Zone to help those in need.

Bell, Burryaga, and a member of the RDC realize Melis Shryke raids are a pattern. The take into account the expansion of the Stormwall and pinpoint a planet called Reventine as the next planet they’ll raid in the Seswenna Sector.

Bell and his crew were right. Melis is about to raid the planet Reventine when Avar and Porter begin their plan to hijack the Cacophony.

After saying goodbye to Rhil and Belin, Avar and Porter jump through space and into the airlock and onto the Cacophony. Once they’re in they begin their attack. Half of Melis Shryke’s bridge crew abandons her except two. She put a call in to Viess saying she has her two Jedi and to come get them before cutting the link and telling her remaining bridge crew to blow the Path drive.

Porter and Avar work “perfectly in sync, reading each other’s movements before they were even made, driven by instinct and decades of training”. Many Nihil begin making their way to the escape pods. Avar, Porter, and KC-78 make their way to the bridge. Viess is closing in on the Cacophony. She has it out for the two Jedi for the embarrassment on Hetzal. She’s ready to prove to Marchion, Ghirra, Boolan, and the others that she wasn’t to be underestimated. She orders the attack on the Cacophony despite others mentioning Shryke, Viess says Shryke was the bait. Viess and a member of her crew mock Shryke as they open fire on the ship.

Shryke calls for everyone to abandon ship then puts the ship on a direct collision course with the Stormwall. Avar and Porter get to the bridge and Shryke strikes from the shadows. Avar takes Shryke’s hand. Shryke calls for Avar to finish it but Avar refuses not wanting to give Shryke “the easy way out”. Shryke mentioned Viess plans to take them but she’s ensured there’ll be nothing for Viess to take to Ro on Hetzal. Porter leaves Avar and Shryke to go face the General saying this was always Avar’s mission and that she is the future of the Jedi Order and that he was the past. Avar had the memory core of the old EX Droid and realizes there’s still a way and then tells KC-78 that she hopes he’s ready to work faster than he ever has before.

Porter takes a Drill Ship from the Cacophony to Viess’s ship. It drills right into the bow of the Foregone Catastrophe. The bombardment of the Cacophony stops as the Foregone Catastrophe has a new problem it’s pulling itself apart due to the damage caused by the Drill ship. Porter walks around the ship and finds Viess. He suggests “a last dance” as he readies his lightsaber as Viess screams in “wild rage as she charged”.

Aboard the Cacophony after a few tense moments Avar and KC-78 make the jump to hyperspace taking Melis Shryke along with them.

Porter and Engle fight as the ship tears itself apart. Porter knows his chances of escaping are dwindling. As they fight Porter tries to stop fighting so he and Viess can die in peace but Viess persists. As the ship shakes Porter loses his footing and Viess’s sword slices into Porter’s left shoulder “burying itself deep in muscle and sinew”. The floor crumbles. As he holds on for life, open space is below him and Viess is out of reach above him. He knows this is the end. Viess runs away as Porter blinks sweat and blood from his eye. 🤬 I don’t want him to die. Not yet anyways.

In the Seswenna Sector Bell and his group wait to capture Melis Shryke. Instead they find the Cacophony and Avar Kriss who’s brought them Melis Shryke!

On Hetzal, Ghirra Starros stares out the window in contemplation. News of Avar’s escape, Shryke’s capture, and the disappearance of Viess and Porter Engle have spread. Ro says they’re lies but Ghirra knows it’ll rally those in the Occlusion Zone to rise up and fight. She thinks of how the old ways of the Nihil are dying and thinks Ro knows it too but refuses to admit it. With the loss of Viess more Nihil are beginning to think like Ghirra. Ghirra and Marchion Ro have words with both telling the other the other’s faults and flaws. Ro says the old prospecting lanes Avar used will be closed. Ghirra tells him this is pretty much all his fault with the public execution and that he has shown he does not know the Republic or how they think. Ro threatens Ghirra warning her not to cross him and that it’s a fight she can’t win. She is only there to remind him of what not to become. She inwardly thinks he’s wrong and that he will see. Then he’s gone leaving Ghirra alone.

Avar Kriss is on Coruscant in the Jedi Temple!! She thinks of she feels relieved to be back. She searches for “one face she longed to see more than any other”. She thinks of those so happy to see her, and that despite her mistakes and failures she belongs there. She had found herself again. She makes a silent promise to return for Rhil and Belin. She hopes Porter is at peace and holds out hope that he survived. Avar goes into the Council chambers and is greeted by the ten council members with only Poof attending via holo. Elzar, Indeera Stokes, Arkoff, Bell, and Burryaga are present as well. She sees Elzar and both are holding back from running to the other. Avar moves to be beside Elzar as Yoda says they have work to do and a holo of the full Occlusion Zone is pulled up. Avar whispers to Elzar that she heard his messages and tells him they gave her strength. He remains silent but their hands brush against each other’s and Avar decides that’ll have to be enough for now. She then turns and addresses the Council and gathered Jedi ready to get to work.

10/10

It’s a great book!! It’s very hard to choose best standout character between Elzar Mann, Porter Engle, Avar Kriss, and Bell Zettifar but I’m going to go with Porter Engle!!! He was already a favorite.