Note: Nine- the beginning of the end. A countdown. 

The markets of Jedha were quiet compared to what they once where. The occupation by the empire slowly suffocating the once bustling and multicultural city. Stormtroopers patrolled the streets and the market stalls had lost all their marvellous wares, reduced to only selling common basics that had yet to be confiscated by the government. A far cry from the colourful and laughter filled place the older population talked about. Lian didn't remember very much about how Jedha used to be. All his memories being of a toddler's view of blurry colours and loud voices and sharp smells. It had been both overwhelming and almost something from his dreams. (Sometimes Lian thought that those memories were all a dream. The occupation had started when he was five and those nightmares stayed longer than the dreams).  

That day, the day that started it all for him and later the day that everything ended, began with the market. Lian had risen that morning with the sun, as usual. He had dressed in his robes of black and red. The material tied in a familiar way only achieved after long practise. His hair was finally growing back from the shaved head he'd had as a guardian in training and it was sticking up as sort of black fluff that he had no idea what to do with. The ceremony marking him as an official Guardian of the Whills had been a few months ago and he was still growing used to the fact that he was no longer a disciple. It had been a hurried affair. The usual rites of passage having to be altered slightly to fit in with their new reigning powers. But Lian had made it. The first new monk of the force temple of Jedha in twenty years.

He joined the other monks in the main temple hall for morning meditation. There were five others. All men at least twenty years Lian's senior. Master Bali was so old that he shook as he walked and he dozed off during meditation sessions. His long white hair was tied back in a braid and he sat cross legged on the cushion. Already Lian could hear him staring to snore. At his side was Master Kebbie, a Twi'lek with red tinged skin and two long lekku that he kept wrapped around his neck. He didn't speak much and didn't acknowledge Lian's presence as he sat down on the empty cushion between him and Master Sami. Sami winked at him and Lian smiled slightly as he crossed his legs. The humanoid man had greying blonde hair and a long beard with beads that gangled as he moved. "Morning", he whispered conspiratorially as he eyed the seriousness of the monks around them. 

Lian nodded back with a twitch of his lips as a second voice murmured. "I am one with the force and the force is with me". Chirrut stared at them unseeing with his cloudy eyes but his tone was teasing, a reminder of the fact that they were supposed to be meditating. Behind him Blaze lurked. The man not joining the meditation in favour for cleaning out his guns. The ex monk a familiar presence that they had all grown used too once again. 

Lian obediently closed his eyes and let the familiar words rest on his shoulders as he began to meditate. I am one with the force and the force is with me. The force greeting him with a bubbling sensation as he mentally reached out to join the minds around him. The strength and calm of Chirrut's that felt like the trunk of a huge tree. The lighter presence of Sami, who despite the grey in his hair felt like a the warm steam of a bubbling pot of tea. Bali, who was already asleep and whose unconscious mind pulsed with dreams of times far gone. Kebbie and his mind a cloudy day of rain, cool and refreshing. Each mind reaching out to greet Lian's own in a way that couldn't be described by words. They were the last force monks of Jedha. A family of their own. 

After meditation was over they shared out their meagre foods. The last of the bread for breakfast, the texture dry and rough even with the spiced kaf they drank. The empire had been limiting the foods given to the civilians and today some of them would have to venture out into the market for new supplies. It was usually Chirrut's job as the blind man was often seen as less of threat and he had a wit that the market women found funny.  "You should go with him, Lian", master Bali spoke up in his high trembling voice. He wheezed slightly and blinked at him with his dark eyes lined with winkles. Eyes that always seemed to see more than Lian could guess. "We should let the young mind in our midst do more".

Lian's eyes widened in surprise. He was not often on market duty, not after the bombing in the old market square almost a year ago. "If you are sure", he murmured.

Kebbie's face fell into a frown. The man's eyes fixed on something far beyond them all. Something that lined his face with sadness. Lian had seen that look many times and he did not like the curling feeling in his gut at the fact that this look often forewarned something tragic. 

"Bring your staff", Chirrut voiced, the oder unspoken. The force seemed to move faster at the words and Lian nodded. Next to him Blaze slurped his kaf noisily.

"Yes. Saw Gerrera has been rumoured to have caught a defector pilot. The troopers will be looking for them, best to be armed", Sami coughed. He hacked heavily and Kebbie reached over to pound him on the back until he fell silent. Lian nodded again and sipped his kaf. Illness was rife in the city. Too much poverty and no money for medicine. Sami's cough was getting worse. 

"Are you sure I am to accompany you then?" Lian asked. "I am still struggling with my light bow".

Blaze snorted and Chirrut smiled teasingly. "As masterful you have become in hand to hand combat, accurate with a gun you are not". Lian huffed at the teasing of his mentors, his surrogate fathers. "Come anyway", Chirrut nodded. "The force wills it". There was no arguing after that. Lian could feel the truth of his words in the force well enough. 

They finished eating and Kebbie began gathering up their plates and cups. The red skinned Twi'lek pausing to rest a hand on Lian's shoulder as he passed. "Look after yourself young one", he rumbled, fingers squeezing the young man's shoulder. "Trust in the force and don't forget where you came from". 

The words were surprising and Lian found himself gazing up into the man's pale blue eyes. The feeling of being left out of the loop growing stronger. The old masters knew something he didn't. There was a premonition lingering in the air. The force weighted with it even if it wouldn't show it to him. "I will", he murmured. 

"May the force be with you", the man inclined his head in parting before letting go and walking through the red stone halls of their temple to attend to his chores, as if this was a normal morning. 

"And also with you", Lian replied. The sandstone room echoing the words around distantly. 

"Lian!" Blaze shouted from a different corridor. "Come on! We haven't got all day!" 

The twenty year old jumped a the noise and hurried off in a flutter of red and black robes. His long red scarf trailing behind him as he hurried through the temple back to his rooms. The maze of red stone corridors echoing his footsteps as if there were a group of people, echoes of young initiates running through the corridors. But it was just him. Always just him even as the kyber crystals in the walls shone of times far gone. 

Once this temple would have been busy with people. Jedi on their pilgrimage across the old force temples. Monks looking after the Kyber crystals. Younglings from the main Jedi temple in Curoscant arriving to get their first crystals for their lightsabers. There was once hustle and bustle there. But now it was only six of them. 

Lian scrambled into his room and across the echoing empty space of what had been a dormitory for twenty initiates. He snatched up his light bow, the weapon in its usual configuration of a metal staff, from where it was leaning against the wall by his bed. He glanced around the neat bunk. The folded blankets and the small nicknacks he had collected through his childhood lining the shelves. The clear white kyber crystal that he had been gifted as a child was resting in its usual spot by his pillow. 

For a second he stared at it. The force was jumping around it as if it wanted something. Lian sighed and grabbed, burying it into the pocket of his robes as he turned around and hurried back out the door. Chirrut and Blaze were waiting for him.