BISEXUAL'S FOLLY

Cele saw a vision that Lioran had that showed her … well, for lack of better words, killing Zanya.

There were also other, more general horrors and apparitions that appeared during their travels because of the way the Force ebbed and flowed around in that region of Wild Space, which deeply affected Cele who can probably boast being incredibly connected to it. More than others maybe. And this is admittedly her biggest strength — and biggest weakness. Most of their travels were fine, without much to report besides what they did eventually find with Nul’s history after Sana-Rae arrived, but because she had Lioran’s holocron with her at the time, his powers had mingled in with her subconscious long enough to show a vision to her when she’d paused long enough during some downtime to consult it.

Some extra context before getting to the meat of this vision and why its so important.

Lioran was a seer, meaning he occasionally was able to tap into the Force to receive visions from it about the future. But it wasn’t his main ability nor was he trained deeply in it. He didn’t have others to interpret them for him (because he thought the notion was ridiculous), and often acted in the interests of the Empire with them. Most of the time, these were successful acts, so he took them as truth for the most part. None of his children besides Kivo inherited this ability, and Kivo had yet to receive adequate training in his — which were more on par with the Voss in how clear (and often destructive) they were — by the time he escaped the Empire.

I digress. The important part is that Lioran was one with the Force in a similar manner to Cele while he was alive (so her pure skill comes from him, less so Ekta) so him having visions beyond the Force after death is possible. It’s kinda like how Grandpa Kallig warns the Inquisitor about Zash, except Cele already doesn’t believe most of what he says. But Lioran is strong enough to override a lot of the Force “locks” she established on his holocron and ghost itself, he just often chooses not to. He enjoys biding his time, and seeing just how much prodding it takes to get Cele to open the holocron again. The more stressed she gets, the more interesting the struggle. The fact she even brought his holocron has him fascinated — it means that something has changed in her mental state, and he wants to know what it is at first, before priorities shift.

He chose to this time because the barrier between the Force and reality became very thin on that planet. Lioran didn’t need to fight against her to appear when her guard was already down, and the vision he’d received not weeks beforehand was becoming clearer in his mind. No longer was it something he wanted to hold over her head and watch her struggle — if he wanted to preserve his legacy, then he needed to tell her.

How altruistic of him…

A fight with her brother that was so clear in her mind, white and green blades clashing in the darkness. An argument she can’t recall, can feel the way it made her mouth fill with the taste of metal when the butt of Zanya’s blade drove into her jaw, but not the words that she’d said. Feeling so desperate, so hopeless, terrified, driven by revenge in her heart in an all-consuming plague on her senses … It had all lead to Cele gaining the upper hand and poising her blade above Zanya’s chest — then plunging it down.

That vision ended pretty abruptly there, and by then Arcann and Sana-Rae were attempting to rouse her from where she’d slid and nearly collapsed on the ground. It’d felt so real that it’d took a solid five minutes for her to come back to her senses completely and catch her breath long enough to realize it wasn’t something that had come to pass, and that her hands were still clean. She wasn’t anywhere near Odessen, and she couldn’t hurt her brother from here.

Cele is smart enough to know visions are never fully clear and that there’s always context missing, as well as that the Force was a fickle creature that often rarely was what it seemed to be, but it haunted her. It felt too real. Looked too real. Cele couldn’t tell what all of it had been about, but she needed it so desperately not to come to pass. Not her brother. Not now. She would do anything to keep him from being on the other end of her weapon, and she didn’t want him to die.

But … there was always some inkling of the truth in these visions. Cele was never able to figure which part of it was. She’d fought with Zanya in the past, yes, but she hadn’t had much reason to even consider in it in more recent times. So what in the blazes was this about? Could she ever be pushed to that much anger to outright kill him? Especially now, when they’d done so much to repair their relationship, but had been on rockier waters since the Alliance had been forced to choose a side to ally with?

Cele is terrified to say she doesn’t know.

Arcann and Sana-Rae in fact do not know about this, and presumed that she saw something about Nul that had disturbed her. Cele decided to shoulder the burden by herself because shes’s a) selfish and b) selfless. She doesn’t want to incite panic, and doesn’t want anyone to think less of her because of it — Cele thinks she can handle everything on her own. I think to some degree, with the connection that Cele and Arcann have built thus far, he’s pretty sure that she isn’t telling the whole truth — or any of it — but considering circumstances, doesn’t press her on it. He figures they’d talk later, but she clams up pretty hard afterwards and doesn’t get the chance to get anything out of her by the time they return to Odessen. Voss rolls around, and while she seems nearly back to normal, even happy to be back in the core systems, he’s understandably concerned. She’d ended up turning her attention back to him, and while he’s grateful for the support, he doesn’t get why she’s dodging his questions.

She consults Lioran eventually after the events of Voss, against her better judgement because she hates doing it.

Interacting with a Sith relic is already basically blasphemy as a Jedi, and the more she gets to know Lioran, the more of a pull she feels towards him. It is her father, she knows that much, but doesn’t exactly feel that familial tie very much. She doesn’t want to. If she admits wholeheartedly that he is connected to her, that she does have a long line of Sith blood running through her, it might crack her psyche even more than it already is. The only other person that knows she has his holocron is Osiris, and that’s because he gave it to her during the Zakuulan occupation. No one else knows that she sees his Force ghost either. She figures Osiris would never understand, and presumed it would be a short-term thing that she didn’t need to inform Zanya about. Protecting him, in a way.

… It’s been at least almost five or six years since she started seeing him (during Eternal Throne). I think that statute of limitations is very much up, but Cele isn’t taking steps to rectify this. Deep in her subconscious, she does want to know what knowledge Lioran possesses. Wants answers for the things that happened to their family that she can’t find otherwise. And figures if Zanya knew, he’d want the holocron destroyed. All Cele knows is that her brothers hated him. And she should too, but the possibilities are just too great.

Lioran, as in that episode tease, is a bit elusive at first, but does share that it was a vision he had that he imparted upon her directly because of how important he felt it was. He’s more concerned than flighty about it, already a bad sign considering how casually he usually appears to her. It isn’t as if he has a full grasp on why it occurred that way, and while Odessen is strong in the Force, he can’t cross the boundary like he did there to help her parse through it in any way. He has a vested interest in his lineage not dying to pitiful infighting between siblings (father of the year doesn’t care about Osiris part ???, knows Kivo is no longer with the Empire and doesn’t expect Kadasha to live past thirty), but also has a deep and unsettling feeling that there’s a reason for it. That something dark stokes this provocation, and that its hurtling towards them faster than he can understand. Lioran doesn’t know if it has something to do with Nul’s machine or if it’s something wholly unrelated — he’s a seer, not a fortune teller. He can just make educated guesses because of them, which isn’t something he admits to Cele but the point comes across anyway.

Still, he does ask Cele to keep him around more. To see if, independently, they can get ahead of this vision and those consequences. If he could teach her anything to prevent it, and determine if he has anymore visions. She initially refuses, the only reason she hasn’t melted his holocron down to scrap is because his information may eventually come in handy (Cele needs someone to depend upon when things become stressful, even if she refuses to admit such a thing aloud), and that he might have more insight on Nul’s machine or its inner workings. She doesn’t want him to teach her anything, less he try to corrupt her.

He doesn’t, not really. Well, he’d be lying if he didn’t want to use Cele for his own gain — if his daughter was this strong, why wouldn’t he? Lioran didn’t have the opportunity to do so in life so he did now in death — but it wasn’t his main goal as of now. Lioran feels the galaxy is on the precipice of change that no one can prevent, and he does not like the mystery the next few months are shrouded in. He’s heard of Nul herself, but not much beyond that. He needs Cele’s help to retrieve more information, and Cele needs his help to prevent this future from arriving so violently. They’re at a stopgap, and with Cele’s only other option being Erzilith, she takes on the task of deciphering and avoiding this vision reluctantly with her father.