Aria too, had been looking forward to sleeping in for once. But, as always, it seemed as if every Force in the known galaxy had a vendetta against the two Champions. As the communicator blared loudly and stirred them from their slumber, Aria grumbled audibly and muttered something that was likely a rather unsavory slur about where it should go in Twi’leki (that Malu hopefully had not heard!), as Yerbol answered the call his wife lifted her head reluctantly from the pillow, blinking blearily at him. 
“This better be important, Malu.” she muttered in Basic, frowning sleepily as she listened to what the Elder had to say. At the jested threat of demotion, the Champion responded with a snort of her own:
“Please do, maybe then we’d ACTUALLY get to sleep, you know, like normal people do? That’d be REALLY nice.” 
She had to admit it sounded ominous, though, and not likely something that could - or should - go ignored. With another protesting groan, Aria buried her face into her pillow once more, her muffled voice proclaiming:
“So much for not having an alarm in the morning, eh?” 

________________________________

As they entered the meeting room, Aria had to take a steadying breath to calm her own rising nerves. Finding their usual places occupied (which had never happened before), she had to wonder what unholy terrors had been unleashed this time to require such an audience. She would be grateful to find, that it was far less horrifying than she had been expecting. Or perhaps horrifying in a different way. At the very least, it was the last thing Aria had been expecting to hear, and she certainly hadn’t been prepared for it.  At first, she had wanted to laugh at the situation, guess Malu was being serious after all! But as the Miraluka continued explaining the Council’s purpose for summoning them to the Chamber, all sense of humour vanished. Unlike her husband, who managed to stammer out a few confused questions, Aria remained rooted to the spot and staring at the Elders in wide-eyed shock. 
“S-Sorry?!” she eventually squeaked out, which drew a few amused chuckles from the older Force users in the room. 
“Come on Aria, you could do to look a little less like a rabbit in the headlights, you’ve handled far worse than this before.” Cheriss chided good-naturedly. The Champion cleared her throat, shifting her weight from one foot to the other before she tried again in the hopes of voicing her thoughts in a more eloquent manner: 
“I'm sorry, I just...wasn't expecting this, of all things. It's a...a big responsibility.” 
“We know.” Ailel beamed back at the two dumbfounded Champions. “But we wouldn’t entrust you with a task we didn’t think you were ready for. I think you’ll find it to be rather rewarding once you get used to it.”
“Just give it a chance, that’s all we’re asking.” 

“Of course, of course.” Aria nodded quickly, not wanting to refuse such an honour. Despite her apprehension of becoming the SOLE teacher to a budding Knight, she managed to put on a smile and a brave face, catching her husband’s eye with a sideward glance. 
[i]Y’know, I thought I’d have a few grey hairs before anyone ever started calling me “Master” anything![/i] She commented dryly. As Kin and Paix made their exit, the Champion once again began to fidget uneasily as she listened to the Elder’s words of encouragement. They seemed to help quell her anxiety enough for Aria to stand calmly at attention in time to meet the two prospective Knights. Beside the chestnut-haired young man strode a much smaller alien, who while not TINY per se, for she easily had a foot of height on Aria, appeared rather small beside the human she kept pace with. As she stopped before the Champions and Elders, she stood with both front paws clasped together against her stomach, her head held high. Her fur was a striking shade of deep brown, appearing almost black had it not been for the light that caught on it and revealed its true shade, except for her underbelly and a small dot-shaped patch above each eyebrow which were cream in colour. Aria had never seen a Selonian before in her life, but she was well familiar with the species name from old texts she had come across during her time on Korriban. She thought, oddly, that she would have almost mistaken the youngster for a Cathar had it not been for the absence of a thick mane of hair and the longer muzzle. The Selonian’s large, amber eyes studied the other beings in the room with a kind of wary curiosity as she waited patiently for her turn to be introduced, her nose constantly twitching which may have indicated a nervous disposition at her current situation or may have been normal for the species, Aria had no idea herself. 

As Matthew concluded his introduction of Ethan, Cheriss rose from her seat and indicated the ferret-like Knight. “And this is Kytra Llis, who joined us from one of the first refuge villages that the Alliance set up on Coruscant. She can be shy at times, but she’s observant and dependable with an eye for detail like no other, she’s kept her fellow Knights from walking into fatal traps on multiple missions from Ord Mantell to the further Outer Rim, all of the trainers here hold her in high regard and we’re sure she will not disappoint.” 
Kytra’s ears wobbled under Cheriss’ praise, the Selonian’s robes swishing lightly as she dipped into a polite curtsy directed towards the Champions. 
“It is an honour to meet you both...I look forward to training with you.” 
“So do we.” Aria returned politely with a nod of her own. She felt a little bit as though the Elders were throwing them into hot water by assigning them apprentices without so much as a warning beforehand, but she appreciated the urgency of the situation: with Voldon gone the Qyaari leadership had been de-stabilised and she felt certain there would be populations across the galaxy that would doubt their capabilities as an Order overall. They would have to show them all that the Qyaari would continue to stand as strong as they ever had, and what better way to do that than to announce new Champions in training? And of course, it remained to be said that with two other Champions it would lighten the workload on Yerbol and herself marginally, which she appreciated more than she could put into words. 
Kytra and Ethan, on first impression, seemed like a capable pair of young Force users, so how hard could it be? 

In the silence that followed, the Elders exchanged glances and perhaps even non-verbal communications of a sort, before Cheriss spoke up once more. 
“We would hate to rush you all off-world so quickly, but in the nature of trouble it waits for no-one, and there is something else we would like to discuss with you.”  

Of course there is, when ISN’T there? Aria thought to herself with an odd sort of irony, but remained tight-lipped as she faced the Dathomirian. 
“What sort of trouble?” the Champion enquired carefully, knowing it was futile to hope for something that could easily be solved. 
“The Council feels that the vision we all shared on Voss could entail a warning of more threats to come. Centuries ago, Revan and Bastila disappeared from known space and we do not know what they may have found, but whatever it was it held enough importance to drive Manus, Soto and indeed perhaps even Bracknell himself, mad trying to find it.”

[i]Please don’t ask us to go looking for it, please don’t ask us to go looking for it....[/i]
Unfortunately, Aria’s wordless pleas appeared to have no effect. 
“Whatever this thing hidden on this unknown planet is, it MUST be found and destroyed or controlled before it further damages the galaxy as we know it.”
[i]Shit. Why us? Why is it ALWAYS us? [/i]
“....Understood, but...where do you suggest we start?” Aria coughed. “The vision wasn’t exactly clear.”
“We believe,” Ailel continued where her counterpart had left off, “that another Jedi attempted to search for Revan and Bastila some years before. She may have left clues or a trail of some kind in the last place she was known to have travelled before she, too, disappeared.” 
The more the Council spoke of their planned course of action, the heavier the air in the Chamber appeared to get, or perhaps it was simply Aria’s own emotions projecting this onto her environment. Regardless, the Champion felt her stomach turn uncomfortably before any Elder had even spoken the name of the planet.

“Malachor V.” 
[i]Aaaaannd they might as well ask us to shoot ourselves in the head.[/i]