He had thought he had misheard....HOME.....OSSUS..........the older man smiled and looked deep into Master Jirens eyes, sensing the power and sincerity in his mind.

A unification of our orders would help stabilize the balance which had shifted to the sith.

Projecting his to where all could hear, Odon spread the word.

Attention fellow praxeum members. Master Jiren brings word of the resurrection of Ossus. As well he has invited us to return home. Finally we can honor the fallen and reclaim the structures that Sedriss destroyed. This day we prepare to return.

Smiling at Gash Jiren he rubbed his beard absentmindedly, giving the younger man a wry grin.

It is a joyous time for us all. Tell me Master Jiren. How did you rebuild Ossus? Were their any survivors when you arrived? It seems like ages since I saw the capital city. Tell me all you know good sir.

There was a presence on Ruusan that suddenly triggered Arkan's observationn away from the everlasting Force fountain. No, it was not a Sith... a Jedi. This Jedi had power and an aura so great that focus was not easily done with such a presence here on the planet. If Arkan understood the meaning of powerful beings coming to this planet, he had to be ready. This would be a trying time for him, but the fountain would provide him enough energy to escape without notice if things turned awry. He looked around the bulbous crusted shell of the burial mound, the fountain sprouting in a pillar of light all the way to the top. Around this mound, a dozen meters away around it, there were dirt slopes to the wall filled with runes and images of the late Jedi-Sith battle.

<font color="teal">"Who are you?"</font>

Arkan felt a faint Force signature appear behind him. He turned to face this entity. "And you would be?"

The blue glowing spirit, dressed in a modest farmer kind of outfit, someonething from the planet Sulon, white hair and white beard (or light-blue hair and light-blue beard, if you wish). <font color="teal">"Morgan, Morgan Katarn."</font>

"I thought so. I must say that you've done a good job maintaining this remarkable place..."

<font color="teal">"As long as I keep Darksiders like yourself away from it."</font>

"Darksider?," Arkan looked to Morgan with a sly grin, "No, dead one, I was here to make sure that the Jedi of this world's new Praxeum would find it. Although my help was refused, so I must take and go. I don't wish to be here too long."

<font color="teal">"I don't think I can allow you to do that."</font>

"You let Desann through, did you not?"

Morgan did not say another word. Instead, vanishing as though his presence were never there at all. This pleased Arkan, although he knew that somehow, Morgan would have set him up with some kind of trap, or worse, called upon the aide of that powerful Jedi that recently arrived.

Putting his attention back to the Force Fountain, Arkan stepped closer to it. Like a refreshing glass of cold water on a hot day, Arkan was soothed by the pure energy of the Force flowing around the funnel upward. He took another step closer. He almost felt enlightened, as though the world seemed so much easier to deal with, he felt tranquility. Arkan's eyes flickered silver, then he noticed the Force Fountain in a new light. The funnel was in a shade he had never thought existed to him before. Focused Force looked Green to him, Raw Force looked Purple to him, but this Force Fountain had an amalgam of both energies swirling through it and at its core a shade of reddish Force particles in tight clumps together.

"The Forbidden Fruit tasteth all the sweeter," Arkan smiled to himself. Unable to resist the urge to venture into the fountain, Arkan put his arms out and ran up the mound... before he could actually walk into the stream of Force, something pulled him up, levitating him into the Force Fountain. He curled up into a fetal position, finding comfort in himself as his mind and soul expanded out into the power of the Force, so open, so vast and so clear... it nearly scared him, but he had to be strong, he understood the weight of the challenges in his future and this is one step he could not miss.

He sighed at Jacen. "We came with the others when we fled Ossus. What about you? I didn't see you on the ships...though I might've missed seeing you..."

Kamon looked at Baas. All this talk of going to Ossus made him interested, and worried.

"If you go to Ossus, what will you do with Ruusan? It can not be allowed to sit around unprotected. It is too valuable to be left without defense."

Clasping the younger mans shoulder he smiled, allowing himself to relax for the first time in five years.

It will not be left unsafe my friend. I am hoping that you will remain and protect this world, safeguarding it from the sith who will surely come. Do you accept this task?

Kamon ###### his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you mean you want me to stay here personally? I can't do that. I could accept the planet into the Republic and put a garrison and naval outpost here."

The transports were loaded and all the members of the jedi Praxeum were aboard their individual ships. Ruusan had been goood to them but the opportunity to return to Ossus was a dream come true.

Standing next to his fiancee, Dyani Spark, Oodn watched as the streams of ships made their way into orbit, heading for the rendevous point before jumping into hyperspace. His smile widened as he looked at Kamon Vondiranach, an old friend and now caretaker of this ancient valley.

It is time old friend, I leave Ruusan in your hands, content it will not fall into the hands of the sith. My family is ready to begin the trip to Ossus, thankful for your offering us a ride. It is time.

Making his way onto the ship, he gazed out on the Ruusan horizon one final time. Now, it was time to return home...to OSSUS!

... As the members of the Jedi Praxeum packed their belongings and departed the canyon world of Ruusan, an isolated peace reigned once again. The guardians were set in place and the world was to be left untouched for the time being. No darkness would touch its secrets, except for one...





.... Arkan Tir-Dann still remained within the core of the Burial Ground. The Jedi and Sith Lore that brought him to that place, placed him into that stream of power. He would lay suspended in the streams of the Force... searching... hunting...

Kamon nodded.

"Ok then. I have a fleet on the way. There is one thing I will have to deal with later. Arkan is still on the planet. He's out there somewhere. I will have to hunt him down."

Kamon led them to his ship. As he neered, the Hope called out to hm joyfully. Kamon carressed the vessel through the Force and walked inside. He sat down in the pilots seat.

"Pick your seat. They will all conform to your needs."

Kamon powered the vessel up and they took off. Heading for Space, he took one last look at the newest planet in the Republic. Not a populated one, but an important one. When they were out of the gravity well, they jumped to Ossus.

The Force Fountain expanded his horizons, opening new dimensions in his belief and understanding of the Force, pulsing for each second of use needed to be replenished by the constant flow. Still in his silent fetal position, floating dozens of feet in the column of power, Arkan's form was nothing more than a material object on the material plane. Where he truly existed was a question answered only by experience. In the matter-stream where the Force made its hooked loop and brought things back into its dimensional fold, Arkan was at the precipice of the hook, looking at the galaxy as a whole as he understood that his mortal form was just a vessel and that he was not attached to it as much as all those who have been born or reborn by means of material and material power. No one would understand, because they were mortal and Arkan was somewhere between mortal and immortality.

Before he came to Ruusan, he had decided to join Malice Draclau's crusade to hopefully eliminate Sedriss Sadow. His timing was bad and he had to cope with using his meager mortal powers to maneuver the expanse of the galaxy, even then, he had to recuperate somehow and the Force Fountain was useful in that. Besides replenishing his energies in the Force, he was looking for something, hunting for something. And by the time he was done here, he would be done doing so. To secure his operation here, he had to create the proper defenses around the Burial Grounds to prevent Jedi or Sith from interferences.

Outside, the eternal struggle of Jedi and Sith spirits to douse eachothers' essence continued on as a destruction in the Valley of the Jedi. But in the chamber, Arkan had to find some way to create a defense. There were the entities of Lord Hoth and Lord Kaan, but they were locked in struggle somewhere else. There was also Jerec and his servant Boc. That would do. The two dead Dark Jedi who fought Kyle Katarn here would prove useful. And from his dormant body, Arkan projected beams of light across the sand-covered ground, scanning across for any signs of the essence or bodies of the Dark Jedi. It did not take long before Arkan detected the clumps of purple Force particles. Whoever these dark essences belonged to, it would be sufficient. Pummeling these purple Force particles into the ground, Arkan found the scattered remnants of the Dark Jedi.

He began to toy with his power of material control, hoping to reconstruct the two formidable Dark Jedi as a last bastion of defense...