4 delicate and subtle harmonic singsong Even among the din of NiJedha Chirrut found her voice soothing There had been a time when that modulated voice had risen so beautifully in her devotions that every Guardian at the Temple of the Kyber would pause to hear it whenever whenever she sang her prayers Then the Empire came to Jedha The Imperials stripped the Temple of its artifacts of its history They barred the doors and posted stormtroopers around the perimeter forbidding entrance if not forbidding devotion devotion The Disciples of the Whills who had worshipped so diligently for so long had been cast out and the Guardians who had watched over them with the same vigilance alongside them Now as far as Chirrut knew all that remained of those who had tended the Temple of the Kyber in NiJedha in the Holy City were a paltry handful of Disciples of whom Silvanie Phest was one and two Guardians of the Whills with nothing left to guard and who were too stubborn to abandon their home Or if you were to listen to Baze Malbus tell it one blind Guardian and his long suffering friend Silvanie Phest no longer sang and Chirrut Îmwe missed that Chirrut tilted his head slightly as much to hear
her better as to let Silvanie know he was listening He turned the smooth alms bowl in his hands felt the shift of money sliding along its bottom heard the music of different currencies colliding Imperial credits and Old Jedha knots and who knew what else He rarely collected much but this didn't bother him Collecting charity was the by product not the intent It was the excuse and it placed him below the stormtroopers notice He sat most days to listen and to learn and to try as he had for so long now to feel the living Force moving around him At the Temple of the Kyber Silvanie said Along the Old Shadows There is a man He will not leave He is frightening the devoted all The Force is all Chirrut said The Force accepts This man does not come to worship Guardian Chirrut Îmwe Silvanie's voice shifted a melodic halftone halftone descent that filled her words with unspoken concern unspoken sorrow He brings danger We fear he will bring violence We fear he will bring stormtroopers stormtroopers There are still many who make the pilgrimage and those of us who are left wish to aid them as best we can We fear this man will bring death 5
6 Who is this man Chirrut asked He says he is a Jedi Silvanie said Chirrut lifted his chin Past his left shoulder he felt Baze Malbus rouse himself from where the big man had been dozing in a precious pocket of warm sunlight No Baze said The word was in so many ways the perfect embodiment embodiment of who Baze Malbus had become as blunt and as hard as the man himself No was the word that seemed to define Baze Malbus these days all the more so since the Imperial occupation had begun No and in that word Baze Malbus was saying many things no he would not accept this whatever this might be from Imperial rule to the existence of a Jedi in the Holy City to the suffering the Empire had inflicted upon all those around them No ultimately and to Chirrut's profound sadness to a faith in the Force He says the Force is with him Silvanie said Chirrut heard her voice shifting slightly could almost see her turning her head from him to Baze and back as she spoke Please Guardians Guardian Baze said One Him Chirrut's smile turned to a grin as he felt Baze jerk a thumb in his direction
Silvanie continued We can offer so little to those who come and this man would threaten even that And if the stormtroopers hear what he is saying if they come it will be the excuse they seek they will accuse us Chirrut rose all at once tilting the contents of the alms bowl into one palm then tucking the bowl itself away within his robes with the other He reached out found Silvanie's six fingered hand with a touch turned his palm to empty what money he had gathered into hers For food and water he said He reached back for his walking stick We will come I won't Baze lied Chirrut grinned Life in the Holy City had never been easy for any of its inhabitants but it had not always been cruel There had always been those who suffered deprivation and hardship there had always been those who sought to abuse their strength over others and to exploit weakness weakness There had always been illness and those who were hungry and those who went without But there too had been peace and generosity and 7
