"Master Yoda?" The Padawan stood respectfully at the entrance to Yoda's personal chamber, with a nervous expression on his young features.
Yoda opened his eyes from his Force meditation and called out to the door, "Come, young Padawan."
Qui-Gon opened the door and entered, his easy entry to Yoda's inner sanctum not helping his anxiety. "Master?" he called once more, "may I ask you a question?"
Yoda smelled paternally. The young Jedi rarely if ever came to ask him questions, as they were too afraid of the Chair of the Jedi Council. They did not see him as a Jedi, but as a rule maker, and that disturbed him somewhat. Only Qui-Gon, who was in trouble more often than not, ever worked up the courage to seek his council. Yoda had told Qui-Gon several times to get his friends and classmates to come to him for help if they needed it, but still they went to another Master, younger and less experienced in the ways of the Jedi.
"Master?" asked Qui-Gon; concerned he had come at a bad time.
Yoda snapped out of the thoughts spinning through his mind. "Sorry, I am, Qui-Gon." He smiled, and his ears perked up as he did so. "Thinking, I was. About. many things."
"I can come back later, Master, if this is inconvenient?"
Yoda shook his head, causing his cowl to shake, and his hair, what was left of it, at any rate, to fly around his head. "No. Convenient, it is, now, Qui-Gon. Ask of me, what did you wish to?"
Qui-Gon coughed nervously. "I. um, found this Holocron in the Main Archives, Master, but it will not allow me to get past even the first Gate."
Yoda frowned, his forehead wrinkling, and his ears falling forward. "Strange, that is, Qui-Gon. Holocrons in the Main Archive, accessible by anyone, they should be."
Qui-Gon nodded. "I thought the same thing, Master, so I came to ask you."
Yoda held out his hand, and Qui-Gon floated the Holocron to Yoda's outstretched hand. "Excellent, Qui-Gon, improved much, you have."
Qui-Gon smiled at the praise from the oldest Jedi in the Temple. "Thank you, Master."
Yoda looked at the Holocron. "Now. see what is in here, shall we?"
Qui-Gon nodded with childlike enthusiasm. "Please, Master Yoda." His voice was full of longing. He hungered for information, not for power, but for information's sake. It was an attitude that was too long missing in the younger Jedi, but could lead to. complications. with the Dark Side. Part of Yoda's constant watch over Qui-Gon was so that he did not accidentally Fall. He was the most promising Padawan the Temple had trained in years, but his passions ruled his mind, often acting before the consequences were thought of.
Yoda suspended the Holocron in the air between them, and a ghostly guardian of an Ancient Jedi coalesced in the air above it.
"Your search, Seeker?" it asked with an insectoid clicking noise. Yoda was still amazed at how many Holocrons had insectoid Jedi as GateKeepers. They must have been a truly Force sensitive race. One which was sadly, now extinct due to the influence of the Sith.
Yoda thought for a second. "Knowledge contained within, could you list, please?"
The GateKeeper looked purposefully at the young Padawan to the other side of the Holocron. "You are sure, even in front of one unprepared for such knowledge?"
Yoda nodded. "I believe he is."
The GateKeeper inclined what could be described as his head to the side. "It is you who are his Master, not I, Knight Yoda."
Qui-Gon boggled. "Knight?" he asked before he could stop himself.
The Holocron faced him. "Not all are Masters, young Padawan, even when they profess to be." he looked back at Yoda. "This one, however, is a true Master. He may access almost all of my knowledge. But still, to be a Master, first and foremost, you must be a Knight as well."
It never failed to amaze Yoda how a Holocron would not reveal if a Jedi could not access all of it's information, but once the Seeker achieved a certain level, it told just how much was left to learn. Of course, by that time, the Seeker could access all but one or two of the darkest parts of the Jedi Histories, a thing that Yoda had no want to do, let alone need.
Yoda spoke. "Then teach us your Wisdom, Holocron."
Qui-Gon nodded excitedly.
"First Intonation," stated the Holocron GateKeeper. "The Arii'Marr, and their purpose in the balance of the Force."
Yoda's eyes widened. The Arii'Marr were but a myth, a tale told by Jedi centuries ago when Yoda was naught but a Padawan. That they truly existed was a feat to be sung in the entire Temple! He listened with bated breath; almost as eager as Qui-Gon.
The GateKeeper disappeared, but his voice continued. A holographic stream played where seconds before the Keeper had been.
"The first Arii'Marr was born twenty millennia before the Sith invaded our galaxy. They were being truly balanced in the Force, and began to teach the rest of their race. The Holocron Guardians, the insectoid ones at least, are all descended from the first of the Arii'Marr."
The hologram faded into a three dimensional view of one of the insectoid GateKeepers. It rotated slowly about a central axis, with the arms and head moving slowly, inclining and displaying the joints present on the Jedi.
The voice began again. "The Arii'Marr had the ability to flow with the Force at death, becoming wholly one with what had created them. In time, the lesser Jedi learn to acquire this skill also, but it was one that only a Jedi prepared, both mentally and physically, to die, was actually capable of."
Yoda nodded to himself. That was why his Master had died and dissolved into the Force, while one of his Master's friends who had died in a Sith raid had left a body. It was interesting. He only prayed that when his time came, he could rejoin what had given him form.
The voice changed pitch. "It was a religion of sorts, and one that demanded utmost concentration and skill of its practitioners. Failure was not an option, like the Sith, to a degree, a failed student was a dead student. But they existed millennia before the Sith, so it is unfair to draw a comparison between the two."
Yoda frowned, and Qui-Gon sat looking confused at the Holocron. Yoda spoke, "Jumbled, your knowledge is, Holocron. No order, does it have."
The Holocron stopped its recital. "Awareness is not only a product of Jedi teachings, Master. The Arii'Marr developed what you use today." It clicked its mandibles together. "I am aware, however, that the information contained is somewhat. confusing. It has been nearly three thousand years since this Holocron was last accessed. Some of the pathways have decayed, and I am attempting to retrieve the data through alternate conduits. This means, however, that retrieved information is somewhat. erratic."
Yoda inclined his head. "Sorry, I am, for that, Jedi. Tell me, remember, can you, the Master your networks were based on?"
"I cannot." The words were spoken without emotion, and Yoda sensed a feeling of sadness from the Force as it was verbalised. The Holocron's were linked to the Master their Matrix was based upon. To have a Holocron unable to recall whom it was based around was near impossible. To Yoda's knowledge, it had only happened once before.
Qui-Gon looked up. "What was so special about the Arii'Marr, then? If they died, why were they so important? Surely we have all of their knowledge in the Jedi Temple?"
Yoda shot him a look, but the Holocron fixed Qui-Gon with a firm glare. "Many questions, young one. and many answers are not what you seek."
Qui-Gon sat back with an uncertain look on his face. The rebuke had not meant to be so. forceful. but the Padawan needed to learn his place, and quickly if he was to become all he could be.
The GateKeeper faded once more, and the Holocron projected a map of the galaxy. It had two areas marked, one right at the edge of the galaxy, beyond, Yoda noticed, even the little they knew of the Forbidden and Unknown Regions. The second was a small planet not far from Calamari. It was a lone planet that orbited a large star, one far larger than any sun Yoda ever remembered seeing.
"The region at the edge was where the Sith invaded from. A people with much anger and hatred of life." The voice faded, then began again. "The marked planet is the home of the Arii'Marr, a tiny planet that was perfect for life, not too hot, and not too cold, it was maintained at a constant 25 degrees standard by the plant life. It is the home of the Arii'Marr."
The hologram dissolved into static, and Yoda looked at where the image had been. It was forever burned onto his memory. The home of the Jedi.
The GateKeeper appeared again. "Data storage error: Crystalline Matrix damage makes information unobtainable."
Yoda shook his head. "It matters not."
The GateKeeper began again. "The Arii'Marr were a race of Force sensitive people, who had the ability to use both sides of the Force with equal ease. Not one of them ever fell to the 'dark' side as Jedi named the aggressive side of the Force. Through the millennia, the Jedi have forgotten that to attack is often the best form of defending oneself, and so preached that the 'dark' side, as it became known, was evil, and so unworthy and dangerous to any Jedi. Some had the natural ability to use it, but even they needed careful over watch, lest they Fall unexpectedly. Over years, the term 'Arii' Marr' became used for any that could perform a feat such as dual use of the Force and not become corrupted by the power."
The Holocron droned on, but Yoda was frozen in place. A force user that could not Fall to the dark side?
His thoughts were interrupted by Qui-Gon's excited shout. "Alright! I want to be one of those!"