Seeking Balance
Written by Liam Torun-Urr, 7288

A dry, sandy wind grated against the snow-white cloak of the Jedi of Odan-Urr as he approached his destination, carefully trekking across the ridged, wavy surfaced of plated tree corals. All around him, the click and clack of chitinous pincer and mandible announced the presence of krykna spiders, predators drawing in for a closer look at the Jedi. Yet though he sensed their tension, felt their sensitivity to him, he offered up no resistance; he passed through their midst like a calm stream flowing through a forest, relying on only a walking stick and the Force to guide him. He paused, tilting his head to listen to the wind. After a few seconds, he nodded to himself, before adjusting his course and continuing on.
	He saw nothing, as he had for many years, for this man was blind.
	Liam Torun-Urr strode across the plated corals of Atollon, past the debris of decades-past conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire and through the vast, rocky expanses of the planet. His senses revealed many creatures to him, the fearsome krykna, small, feathered convorees chirping past, skittish dokma snails watching from afar and pulling away from his approach. Thick white hair, grown past the shoulder blades, grew down his back, matching the white beard that grew down to his chest and the bushy eyebrows over his calcified eyes. Deep crevices and cracks of age showed themselves across his face and hands, signs of over seven decades - his entire life - in service to the Jedi of one Order or another. Brown robes swirled within his white cloak, his saberstaff’s brassy handle hanging from his back on a cord around his shoulders.
	As he approached the gully, he sensed what had called him here - the thing whose power he had felt in his dreams - and as he neared it, it stood slowly up, coral-plated body and spiked head regarding him with dull, blue eyes. “Hmm,” It said, pensively, “Who comes to my home?”
	“Greetings,” Liam said cordially. “I am Liam Torun, of the Council of Odan-Urr.”
	“Ah. The wanderer,” the great thing said to him, “the nomad. The restless child.” He bowed his head faintly. “Wielder of Ashla, Jedi Knight. I am the Bendu.”
	Liam considered the name, a strange one to him, for a moment as he bowed to the great creature. “Bendu, then. Well-met. It has been a long time since anyone referred to me as a child,” The Jedi smiled warmly. “It is a nice change.”
	“Indeed, no doubt it would be,” Bendu replied. He leaned back, small birds flitting off of their perch among his plates. “Tell me, Jedi, what brought you here?”
	“I had suspected it might have been you,” Liam replied. “I can sense great power within you, Bendu. Are you schooled in the ways of the Force?”
	“I am born of them!” Bendu replied with a deep chuckle, a sound that reverberated across the gully. “The Ashla, and the Bogan. The Light, and the Dark. I live within the middle; I am the Bendu.” He regarded Liam, studying him carefully. “The Force guided you here. Then I suspect you have come to hear of my visions.”
	“Your visions?” Liam asked in reply. “I have wandered long and far, Bendu. Far from my Clan, following the Force’s will. Have you something they should know?”
	“Knowledge you must take them,” Bendu replied. “War is coming. Come, sit, and I shall tell you of what must be done. I shall tell you how the Jedi must prepare, if Balance is to be preserved.”
	Liam came, and sat, and listened, as the Bendu shared his secrets.