Juro Hasekwa
From An Evolution in RP :: Database
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character information
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| Character Name | Juro Hasekwa |
| Titles / Nicknames | Master (rank) |
| Affiliation | Jedi |
| Age | 45 |
| Relatives | No contact with family in keeping with Jedi traditions |
overall appearance
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| Character Avatar | Auron |
| Race | Arkanian |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6'3" |
| Weight | 202lbs |
| Hair | White |
| Eyes | White (no pupils) |
| Build | Strong |
scenarios and roleplaying
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roleplaying awards
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history of initiates and apprentices
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- "All I can say with certainty about them is that none of our age-old enmity has been lost."
- — Juro Hasekwa: When Worlds Collide
Arkanian Jedi Master Juro Hasekwa is one of the few remaining Jedi left alive in the wake of the Great Jedi Purge mustered by the Republic. While he managed to survive the ordeal of his flight from Ando Prime to the hidden world of Sernpidal and link up with other survivors of the Purge, the battle-weary Jedi Guardian finds himself faced with an even more daunting task: forging rebellious alliances with the remnant peoples of conquered worlds in an effort to strike back against the oppressive Galactic Empire and re-secure a future for the shattered Jedi Order.
Juro is the elder child in a trio of sons born to an Arkanian diplomat, Sios Hasekwa and his wife Ameth on the planet of Arkania. Based in the city of Novania, the family lived a modest but comfortable lifestyle amidst the thousands of others who populated the metropolis.
As an infant, Juro was remarkably quiet and well-composed - almost patient with his mother's tendings, never crying or grizzling as was typical of most newborns. The child's demeanour projected a sense of acceptance and understanding at odds with the fact he had not so much as six months of life behind him. It would be a trait that explained its origins later, roughly a year after Juro's birth.
Sios's occupation kept him away from his family for weeks, sometimes months at a time, leaving the care of his son mostly to his wife, who was pregnant with their second child, and a droid aide that assisted her with upkeep of the family's home in the city. During one of Ameth's regular errands out in Novania with the infant Juro and her droid assistant, she had made several purchases and was making her way towards a repulsorcraft boarding platform that the city's public transports made their rounds between throughout the metropolis, when quite suddenly, baby Juro abruptly erupted into an uncontrollable tantrum, the likes of which his mother had never seen before. Chagrined, as the child's performance drew enough attention that passers-by in the crowded public place stopped and looked on, Ameth did her best to pacify him, although nothing appeared to settle the wailing, thrashing child.
So occupied, Juro's mother did not see that the repulsorcraft stopped at the platform had closed its doors and was beginning to take off until her droid aide advised her so. She turned about, watching in frustration as the vehicle moved away from the platform and heaving a sigh, as the next repulsorcraft would not be arriving for another ten minutes or so. Her frustration was soon replaced by shock however, as out of nowhere, another speeding vehicle appeared, swerving wildly through other traffic beyond the platform, then plowed into the repulsorcraft, engulfing both vehicles in a brilliant orange-yellow explosion that hurled hunks of flaming metal through the air and elicited muffled screams from the horrified onlookers on the platform.
Stunned, Ameth looked down at her child, who had reverted to his usual quiet composure and returned her gaze placidly, his small white eyes gleaming like krayt pearls. Could the child have known somehow of the impending danger and made a fit deliberately to keep her, and others who stopped to watch, safe? Or was it just an extraordinary coincidence? Whatever the truth might be, he had saved her life - either by accident or design.
Others who had watched the scene with the infant and then the subsequent accident knew better than to attribute such things to mere chance. Such happenings were the will of the Force - both Jedi Master Artux Yoi and Jedi Knight Rii Passo ascertained as much from where they stood on the fringe of the crowd, robed and unassuming. Both Arkanian Jedi were on their homeworld following the settlement of a major dispute between several mining companies over rights to a major Arkanian diamond mine, but now their attention was taken with the child. Both could sense how easily the Force flowed through the infant held tight in the arms of the Arkanian woman attempting to comfort him in the wake of the accident. They also saw how the child's composed, calm demeanour in the face of his distraught mother seemed to calm her as well ... as if he was the one who was really doing the comforting. The wordless glance the two Jedi exchanged left no doubt between them as people filed around them and the mother, her child and their droid. This infant was no coincidence or stroke of luck. The Force was with him, as it was with them.
Discreetly following the family back to their abode, the two Jedi made a note of the location, then left to deliver a report to their peers in Coruscant regarding their original business on the planet, during which they would confer with them about the Force-sensitive child they had found. A week after the accident in Novania, the pair returned to Arkania and presented themselves to Ameth and also Sios, once he was summarily contacted and present via holoprojector for the news they had come to impart. Artux explained that their son Juro was a Force-sensitive and that they wished to take him to Coruscant for training within the Jedi Order. The child's ability with precognition was a talent that the Jedi Master felt could be dangerous if abused, hence, the strict discipline and just morality of the Order would ensure that Juro would grow up with a clear understanding of the responsibility such a power brought with it.
Although Ameth's maternal instinct made her reluctant to part with her son while he was still just a baby, both she and Sios eventually accepted that this would be best for the child, even though it meant they would likely never see him again. After some hours of gentle persuasion from Artux, Juro's parents agreed to the Jedi's request and by the end of that same day, Artux and Rii left for Coruscant, taking the infant Juro with them. There had been little fanfare or emotional outpouring at the separation of child and parents, both of whom had been quiet, calm and accepting of their circumstances - the latter perhaps influenced by the former. The only possession the child took beyond the blanket he was swaddled in, was an Arkanian diamond set on a simple chain, to be used as a focusing tool. It would be all the child would have as a personal effect upon his formal induction into the Order when he came of age.
From the very beginning of his training as an initiate of the Order, Juro took to all his studies with the same quiet and focused calm that had become the cornerstone of his personality. Not surprisingly, he displayed particular talent with the tests and uses of precognition through the Force. His progress overall was steady and consistent - not so quick as to be exceptional, but neither too slow as to cause concern for his teachers.
During this time, he would find himself in a peculiar friendship-come-rivalry with a Lethan Twi'lek named Alisaya Ven, a girl who shared his devotion to the Jedi studies but was possessed of an entirely different and opposing disposition to himself, being loud, outspoken and quick-tempered. Exactly what particular events caused such friction between the two was rarely ever clear, but the other students of their clan grew accustomed to the sight of the placid Arkanian boy attempting to sooth the fiery Twi'lek girl out of whatever rage she had decided to confront him with. Even more peculiar was the surprising degree of protectiveness both exhibited whenever the other was challenged by something other than themselves - other initiates, the environment, even the clan's Jedi Master.
As Juro grew, his progress and capability was under constant discreet assessment by Rii Passo and the aging Master Artux Yoi - both were Jedi Guardians of some repute within the Order and the boy's affinity for precognition was a Jedi trait both felt could be put to excellent use in their particular field of expertise. To this end, Rii in particular, had not taken on a Padawan learner since finding the boy on Arkania, for the express intent of taking Juro for her Padawan - before another Knight or Master of a differing specialization saw fit to do so - as soon he reached a suitable age and level of competence with his training.
It would not be until the age of ten that Rii considered Juro to have reached a level appropriate for continued and specialized study under her as a Padawan, although she had made a point of familiarizing herself with the boy over his years of training as an initiate, so that he would feel somewhat more comfortable around her when she finally did take him. Donning the customary Padawan braid that hung from behind his right ear, Juro was formally apprenticed to Rii and was also presented with a similar pair of the peculiar spectacles that the Jedi Knight often wore. It turned out that these were actually a type of light filter, using the same type of electromagnetic filtering that Arkanian blinders utilized to serve as protection against the infrared light that their species had a high sensitivity to.
Thus equipped, Juro began his studies under the Arkanian Jedi Guardian, studies that were split between diplomatic theory ... and effective lightsaber combat, for when the best diplomacy failed. He would accompany Rii across the galaxy for the next ten years or so, sitting in on disputes that she had been sent to resolve and learning important lessons about the proper time to exercise either diplomacy or force in any given situation. In the early years of this time period, the boy found diplomacy and calm, reasonable discussion easy, but his quiet, unassuming nature led to him being hesitant and cautious about accepting situations that would require him to defend himself and others with actual physical force. This stunted his progression in mastering the more advanced principles of the Shii-Cho lightsaber form and progressing onward to one of his own choosing. However, patient tutelage from Rii, over the years, would eventually allow Juro to break through this barrier and accept that there would be times where the best diplomacy was served with the blade of a lightsaber.
Up to that point, the young Padawan also had yet to finish construction of a working lightsaber, finding the process inexplicably difficult and riddled with failed attempts. With the overcoming of his personal barrier though, he found that now, everything seemed to fit into place and work as intended. His Master, pleased at finally being presented with the finished lightsaber by her twenty-year-old Padawan, explained that the knowledge of construction was useless without the Force to guide his hands and keep them steady in delicate, intricate alignments. That he had come to accept combat would be necessary sometimes, was to accept the Force as guidance in constructing a tool by which he would effect that reality.
Five years later, Juro would be a grown man of twenty-five, having retained his trademark quiet calmness, and complementing it with a honed confidence of his personal ability and a philosophical outlook on the universe around him. At last, his Master would consider Juro ready for the Jedi Trials that would usher him from Padawan to full Jedi Knight within the Order, a process that would also elevate her to the rank of Jedi Master, if Juro successfully passed the Trials.
A number of gruelling tests that attacked the body, the mind and the spirit, pushed the Arkanian Padawan to each and every limit of his being to overcome, culminating in a Trial of Courage that pitted him in a lightsaber battle against both his Master Rii Passo and the old Jedi Master Artux Yoi, who conceded none of his skill to his advanced age. Raw, drained, battered and even injured by a [i]shiim[/i] strike across the side of one eye, Juro managed to hold his own with the Shii-Cho form against the two Masters, able to withstand the relentless attacks of his two opponents without sustaining serious injury. Satisfied, Rii and Artux relented, with the old Jedi Master informing the Padawan, who slumped down on one knee drenched in sweat and attempting to catch his breath, that he had passed the Trials successfully. He would be formally Knighted the following day - and Artux's one-time apprentice, Rii Passo, would share in the ceremony and become a Jedi Master alongside him.
Less than a year after Juro become a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, the aged Artux Yoi died peacefully in the simple abode he kept within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Juro, on assignment to oversee trade discussions between several Mid-Rim planets, returned to the Temple for the funeral of the old Master, during which he ran into Alisaya Ven, herself now a full Jedi Knight as well. Although more tempered than she had been in childhood, thanks to her Jedi training, she was still very much capable of the same passionate outbursts as before. The tone of their peculiar relationship from childhood picked up just where it had left off and following the funeral of Artux Yoi, the two became an common, and in some cases, comical sight within halls of the Jedi Temple and across the galaxy over the next twenty years - the quiet, self-assured Arkanian and the outspoken, feisty Lethan Twi'lek, for all their apparent opposition to each other's personal philosophies, were frequent companions.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this relationship between the two Jedi Knights became symbolic of a deepening mutual attraction between them that each had been conditioned through their training to resist acting upon. Instead, they would spar verbally with each other in a manner that suggested nothing more than philosophical debate on the surface, but also acted as an outlet for their pent-up tension. To the day, both have managed to keep the true extent of their personal desires buried and locked away to avoid any comprise for the principles of the Jedi Order they steadfastly adhere to.
Following his Knighting, Juro moved to study the Soresu form of lightsaber combat in tandem with the Shii-Cho style's finer points, feeling the need for a more defensive form of combat than that of Shii-Cho on its own. As well as his martial studies, he took to excursions of service with varying Jedi Watchmen around the galaxy, though primarily with the Watchman for Arkania and Onderon, overseeing and settling the frequent disputes that arose on Arkania between the many mining interests that fought for rights to Arkania's diamond mines. Both of these pursuits would continue for the next twenty years; it was at the age of thirty Juro considered himself ready to take on and train his first Padawan .
Unlike Rii Passo and Artux Yoi before her, Juro did not choose another Arkanian Padawan. He was aware of the perception that Arkanians as a race were seen as by the galaxy as arrogant and possessed of a superiority complex over other species, believing themselves to be the pinnacle of evolution. The Jedi Guardian felt that by choosing another Arkanian, he would be in a sense, upholding that perception, hence he felt he needed to demonstrate the ideals of humility and acceptance of other races by breaking such a cycle of singular-race training. To this end, he took for his Padawan a young Human boy named Maas Nihal over an Arkanian Padawan that Rii Passo had recommended to him, an action that somewhat alienated him from his former Master, for she was a staunch advocate of Arkanian Jedi.
Maas proved to be an apt pupil, even a prodigy, taking to Juro's lessons with a finesse not often seen in Padawans of his age. The boy's quickness to learn Jedi precepts and adapt them to the situations the two would find themselves in across the galaxy over the next fourteen years or so, would surprise and impress Juro - in fact, Maas reminded him a lot of himself for some reason, only without most of the personal flaws he had exhibited during his apprenticeship.
It would be when Juro was forty-four and his Padawan Maas twenty-four, that Arkanian Jedi Knight decided the young man fit to attempt the Jedi Trials. As with Juro's tests years beforehand, the Padawan faced several challenging tests of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual fortitude, culminating in a duel against Juro himself.
In preparation for the day, the Jedi Guardian had, over the last ten years, worked meticulously on constructing a new lightsaber - a rare saberstaff - and practiced a defensive form of double-bladed lightsaber combat alongside and integrated with his study of Soresu and Shii-Cho. Although Juro revealed the weapon for the first time against his Padawan, Maas nonetheless held his ground and even managed to fight back at times, going so far as to cleave the weapon in half, showing his understanding of Shii-Cho's principle of disarming an enemy's weapon rather than attempting to slay them. At the conclusion of the duel, Maas was commended for his efforts by the Jedi Masters in attendance ... while Juro was taken aside by one of them.
The Jedi Master informed the Arkanian Jedi Knight of his, and the other Masters' concerns that he had elicited to use such a lightsaber against his Padawan without warning, stressing that Juro might easily have killed the young man with such an aggressive weapon. Juro answered that he was fully aware that such combat and weapons were considered an expression of aggression and glorified killing, but his years of study under Master Rii Passo and his own self-contemplation on the art of combat had led him to believe no lightsaber or indeed any weapon, was inherently good or evil. Weapons were capable of killing, but people had to use them to that end. People had intent, for good or ill, not weapons - weapons were tools by which they might express that intent - to defend others, or to kill them.
Still, the Jedi Masters in attendance were unconvinced by his philosophy and stated that even though his Padawan Maas would ascend to the rank of Jedi Knight, he would need to undergo a Trial to prove the merit of his beliefs before they would consider his eligibility for Master. He would have to demonstrate in extended combat that use of such a weapon did not bring temptation to dominate an opponent with aggressive action as time wore on ... so Juro would duel Master Rii Passo - who had laid the foundations for his combat philosophy - when he was ready to be evaluated.
A little over a month later, Juro had constructed a new saberstaff and in accordance with the beliefs he espoused now, proceeded to duel with his former Master using agility, fortitude and patience rather than offensive attacks. For the most part, he kept only one blade ignited for his own strikes, activating the other purely as a defensive option: to deflect attacks that penetrated the defense of a single blade and his reflexes both, or to meet a flurry of blows. By the end of the long combat, his body ached and was drenched in sweat not unlike his Knighting duel almost twenty years ago. But he stood tall and resolute instead of on one knee, feeling that he had aptly demonstrated the capability for powerful defense with a traditionally offensive weapon to the eyes of the Council. After some debate on merits of his philosophy and practical demonstration of it, the Jedi Guardian was granted the title of Master at last.
It was several months after both Jedi Master Juro Hasekwa and Jedi Knight Maas Nihal had achieved their respective positions, that the events leading up to and culminating in the Great Jedi Purge took place. Juro had taken up a role as teacher in a clan of Jedi initiates and it was during one such class that Maas, his old Master Rii Passo and his frequent companion Alisaya Ven arrived to speak with him. It seemed the suspicions of corruption in the Galactic Senate had turned to reports of Dark Jedi that had to be eliminated for the continued safety of the Republic. More eye-opening than that though, was the decision of the Jedi Council not to address this themselves, but to assign a Jedi Knight to the task of approaching the supposedly corrupt Galactic Senate with this news and requesting their assistance in hunting down the threat. It was an incredible move to no small number of Masters and Knights outside the Council - how could they have reasoned that a more experienced Master was not a better choice for such a sensitive task? Some of the wisest, most eminent Jedi sat on the Council and yet, they had placed themselves beneath a Jedi Knight in terms of wisdom and diplomacy. It made little sense to Maas, Rii or Alisaya ... and no sense at all to Juro. Privately, he wondered if the tendrils of corruption reached even further to seats besides those in the Galactic Senate. How else could such an ill-conceived choice be rationalized?
The fears of the four Jedi were soon ratified when the leaked holo-recording of Aeria Voru, the Jedi Knight sent to represent them, aired publicly. In it, she threatened him and the organization she perceived him to belong to, Black Sun, stating she would 'wipe them out' if that was what was necessary to purge the Senate of its corrupt officials. The Arkanian Jedi Master could already sense how this was bound to end. She gave no proof of his supposed connection to any such corruption and if that was not bad enough, the promise of physical violence in a situation that clearly called for careful diplomacy was a display unfit for any Jedi so far as he was concerned. The Senate was bound to react to such a threat negatively.
As he anticipated, the Senate responded by sensationalizing the image of the Jedi that Aeria had portrayed and calling for the dissolution of the Jedi Council and disarmament of the entire Jedi Order. Juro already knew that no Jedi would oblige such extreme decrees and that refusal would ultimately result in conflict, for any chance of diplomacy had long since been destroyed. Perhaps if it had been individuals they were against, he would have seen fit to stand and defend himself from those who would be coming, but this was not a battle that could be fought with a lightsaber. They were enemies of the Republic itself now, a reality that came about two days after the Jedi Order refused the Senate's decrees point-blank. Now they had been converted from the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy to fugitives and criminals to be hunted down and 'arrested'.
Worse, a dark presence in the Force was with those who hunted.
As with the other Jedi, Juro fled Coruscant before the hunters could close in, keeping with him the small clan of younglings under his teaching. Because of the danger of drawing undue attention in congregating, the Order chose instead to scatter itself across the galaxy, hopefully throwing off the hunters that pursued them. The hunters though, seemed to follow them everywhere, never relenting in the feeling of being just over the horizon. Juro felt it always and in the weeks that turned to months in following, echoes of death resonated through the Force along with it ... the death of the Jedi - the death of Knights, of Masters, Padawans and younglings. They would be spiritual scars he would carry for the rest of his life.
The Arkanian Jedi Master and his troupe skipped across the galaxy, stowing away on cargo haulers plying the trade routes, rather than risking detection on intergalactic transport ships. Eventually, they led him to snow-bound world of Ando Prime, where Juro sought refuge with the ancient order of Bendu monks living in the Andobi Mountains. After some long negotiation with the reclusive sect, they permitted him and his initiates refuge for the time being and he has remained there with the small clan of younglings for near to a year following the Purge, continuing to train them, although the dark presence is never far from his senses. He knows all too well that it is only a matter of time before they will need to move on, before the hunters find this sanctuary too ...
Outside of his role as a teacher, Juro opts to be an observer of events rather than an active participant, preferring to stay on the edges and contribute his opinions from there rather than being focused on. When he does speak, it is reflective of his personality in general: calm, quiet, almost studious, though with a grim, sometimes foreboding undercurrent. His sense of humour is rarely evident, as the current situation in the galaxy has left most of his contemplations dark and unpleasant, both of which are traits that creep into his voice and countenance from time to time. This causes him to find excessively jovial or happy people difficult to tolerate and get along with, though he will normally avoid them rather than voice his disapproval, giving him an air of haughtiness at times.
The Jedi Purge has affected Juro deeply, in no small part due to the fact that he considers the Jedi themselves to be as instrumental in their fall as the corrupt Senators of the Republic. Their decision to send Aeria Voru to speak on behalf of the Council regarding the Dark Jedi, over a more eminent and wise Master, still baffles the Arkanian Jedi Master, as he can find no sense in the Council's reasoning that she could have best represented them. This is underscored in his mind by the fact that her outburst following her failed efforts in the Senate, all but pushed the Republic into the Purge - how such a Jedi was affirmed to speak for the Council, he could not fathom. None of it made sense to him at all - it was an incredibly rash move uncharacteristic of what was supposed to be the wisest Jedi Masters of all their number. Juro found it impossible not to contemplate the possibility the Jedi's ruling body had somehow been complacent in all these events; this particular contemplation over others, lends the dark and brooding demeanour to his personality.
He suspects his personal darkness will not lift until he has more answers about the Council's reasoning and motives leading up to the Jedi Purge, whereupon the Jedi Master hopes that he will be able to place responsibility for the Order's destruction squarely on the shoulders of the Republic-turned-Empire. Until then, the Arkanian views much of the universe through dark glasses - both figuratively and literally.
The Jedi precepts of modesty and humility underscore a life free of materialism and attachment to possessions. Hence as with most Jedi, Juro's personal possessions are few, consisting of his saberstaff, blinder spectacles and the robes he wears.
 Double-Bladed Lightsaber / Saberstaff Category: Weapon Juro's weapon is an uncommon double-bladed lightsaber or saberstaff, more than twice the length of a standard lightsaber. Traditionally frowned on by the Jedi Council for its perception as an aggressive and glorified weapon of killing, Juro has turned this perception on its head by demonstrating its use as an exceptional defensive tool during his Mastering. As with other saberstaves, each blade can be activated and controlled independently of the other, or ignited simultaneously. Juro's preference is to use only one blade at a time unless under duress, when he will activate the other blade as well. Each blade is a different color due to different focusing crystals in each half of the lightsaber - one half contains an Arkanian diamond, emitting a silver blade (the blade he typically ignites when using the weapon), while the other half holds an orange crystal and emits an orange blade. |
 Jedi Robe Category: Clothing Like most robes worn by the Order, this is a fairly simple and nondescript garment. Juro's robe has a high collar that obscures the lower part of his face most of the time; this is a conceit he picked up while serving as a diplomat on Lorrd, where the Lorrdians often wore very loose clothing to conceal their body language, something that made it difficult for Juro to ascertain their disposition or state of mind from body language. He later adopted this idea by adding a high collar to his robe so that in future diplomatic endeavours, particularly shrewd creatures would have a more difficult time ascertaining what he was thinking. |
 Arkanian Blinder Spectacles Category: Clothing / Utility These small spectacles are actually a refined version of the bulkier Arkanian blinder visors. Both serve the same purpose: the filtering-out of infra-red light that can cause 'ocular overload' in the infra-red sensitive Arkanians. These particular spectacles were given to Juro on his apprenticeship to Rii Passo, another Arkanian Jedi who used such eye protection for herself. |
Like his teachers, Juro's focus on defensive combat with a lightsaber has left him with little time to devote to any advanced manipulations of the Force. As a result, he has developed no 'powers' beyond the basics imparted to initiates and Padawans during their training, although the forty-five year evolution of his latent childhood foresight has manifested as two distinct passive abilities.
 Precognition Alignment: Neutral/Universal As with other precognitive Jedi, Juro's attunement to the Force can reveal a glimpse of future events that are about to occur. This manifests as battle precognition for the most part, but in the cases of significant galactic events , the enormity of such may manifest itself as a vision to Juro. The most recent example of this was the Jedi Purge, where Juro foresaw the Republic's branding of the Jedi Order as outlaws to be hunted down and 'arrested', following the actions of Aeria Voru. It was this that permitted him and other precognitive Jedi to forewarn many of their peers and escape from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant before the Republic could make good on its decree. |
 Postcognition Alignment: Neutral/Universal A rare ability, the power of postcognition is relatively new to Juro, having only manifested itself upon the Jedi Master's arrival and subsequent reclusion with the Bendu on Ando Prime. While studying the relics of the ancient monastic order that they kept housed within their mountain temple and musing on their nature, Juro was unexpectedly granted visions not unlike those of his precognition, only with the sense that what he saw had already come to pass - thousands of years ago, in some cases. He is uncertain of exactly how he activated this postcognition, and has only been able to replicate the visions once or twice beyond their first manifestation in the Bendu temple. Lacking any contact with a Jedi Master with knowledge of the ability, Juro has mostly put study of the power aside in favour of training the Jedi initiates in his custody, feeling that a better opportunity to contemplate it will come at a later time. |
