The time passed both slowly and quickly all at once. Aeris thought it passed too quickly because there were so many things to learn, so much to uncover. Yet for the others, those who guarded the temple, time seemed to drag on forever, each moment a small eternity. They were all on guard, as Aeris had instructed them to be, but so far nothing had happened. It was almost eerily quiet. There were no signs of sentient life anywhere nearby, save the occasional wildlife that wandered too close. It was hard to believe that there were other force users--Jedi--anywhere near them. And yet they stood guard nonetheless, because Aeris had never led them wrong. Her powers of perception were unmatched. If she said someone was coming, then they believed her. Nothing else mattered.<br/><br/>With her permission, however, Saila had gone to explore the temple further, rather than standing guard outside with the others. There were tunnels below that, presumably, led to the outside world. Secondary entrances, perhaps. Saila may be one of the hardest of them all to read, and she might seem as though she were calm, but underneath, she was the most restless of them all. Standing around, watching, waiting. It wasn't her style. If Aeris didn't give her something else to do every now and then, she would grow increasingly restless and irritable, and it would only get worse from there. It was best to put her to good use and find some more information about the tunnels and where they led.<br/><br/>While Rixar, Titus, and Cain kept watch outside, Aeris and Jax continued searching through the archives, and Saila wandered the dark tunnels below. There was no light in the tunnels and the young twi’lek carried only a single handheld light, which was currently switched off. She didn't need it, not really. Light or dark, it made little difference to her. Saila, like Aeris, was quite perceptive. Her perception, however, was a bit different. Her strength lied in Force Sight, allowing her to “see” her environment without using her eyes. This was particularly handy in situations such as this, where there was no light, and any artificial light that was introduced was unlikely to be terribly revealing in the almost suffocating darkness.<br/><br/>The first two exits she’d found had been blocked, seemingly intentionally, by boulders and large rocks. She hadn’t bothered to try to move them to see what was on the other side. If there really were Jedi around, the last thing she wanted to do was give away their location. She used her Force Sight to see what she could and then moved on. Besides finding these exits, however, she had found little of interest.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Aeris took a short break from her studying to reach out into the Force and search for any signs of the Force user she’d felt before. Once again, however, she felt nothing. She clicked her tongue and sighed, slightly frustrated by the fact that she couldn’t feel them. There was no time to dwell on this, though. She needed to keep working, so she forced herself to keep going, even as thoughts of him kept creeping up, trying to distract her. It made focusing incredibly difficult. Yet she kept on working, using techniques she’d learned as a Jedi to clear her mind of distractions.<br/><br/>Several hours passed before Aeris was once again visited by Jax, who insisted that she take another break. She didn’t want to stop. There was still so much to do. Yet, she couldn’t deny that she needed to distance herself, if only for a short time. Despite her best efforts, she was distracted, making it much more difficult to focus on the task at hand. The longer she sat here, the more difficult it became to focus on her work. A break would do her some good, even if all that meant was getting away from the archives for a little while.<br/><br/>Just as Aeris was about to head out of the archives, voice came across the comm. “Aeris… You might want to check this out.” The voice of a woman came over the comm. Aeris quirked a brow and glanced at Jax, who shrugged. “What is it? Did you find something?” she asked. “You could say that, yeah.” Saila replied somewhat vaguely. “I’m in the East tunnel.” She added.<br/><br/>“I’m on my way.” Aeris replied, walking briskly from the room and jumping down to the ground below. “Let me know if anything happens here.” She called back to Jax as she headed down towards the tunnels. Like Saila, she didn’t need the light. She reached out and found Saila’s Force signature, closed her eyes, and let the Force guide her to her destination. Her Force sight, while not as strong as Saila’s, was strong enough. She focused on feeling through the Force more than seeing, but the concepts were not too terribly different, so she was more than competent enough in the use of Force sight to find her way around a dark tunnel.<br/><br/>As she walked quickly and silently through the maze of tunnels, she reached out in the Force, searching for any other presence, any Force signatures other than those of her comrades, but she found nothing. Again. She mentally cursed but kept walking on in silence until she reached Saila, who was leaning against the walls of the tunnel, waiting.<br/><br/>“About 2 kilometers ahead there’s another exit to the tunnel. It’s blocked as of right now.” Saila explained. “It probably won’t be blocked for long. There are several people on the other side and they are making their way through.” She continued explaining. “I don’t know exactly how many, just that there are at least three or four.”<br/><br/>Aeris looked down the tunnel and then back to Saila. “That explains the noise.” She replied before closing her eyes and reaching out through the Force in the direction Saila told her. After several moments, she shook her head. “They’re masking their Force signatures. I can’t even feel most of their presences at all, let alone find any other information. I can feel two distinct presences, very faint, but this close I can make them out. The others I can’t make out. Not individually, anyways.” She sighed.<br/><br/>“What do you want to do? Confront them? Go back to the temple?" Saila questioned. Aeris was quiet for a moment before she finally spoke up. "We'd be fools to confront them without knowing how many there are or how strong they are. Especially just the two of us. If they're strong enough to mask themselves from me, even this close, then they're strong enough to warrant caution." She replied, glancing toward the entrance and then back to Saila.<br/><br/>"We fall back to the temple and prepare to defend it. They're uncovering the entrance by hand to avoid detection, which means that it'll be a little while before they break through, and then they have to find their way through this maze." she gestured towards the tunnels leading back to the temple. "That will give us time to prepare. We still won't know their strength, but they don't have the element of surprise, and it's better to gauge your enemy's strength while on the defensive than to run in head first and hope for the best." With that she began to head back to the temple.<br/><br/>"Jax." she called over the comm. "Yep." he responded back. "We have company. They'll be coming through the tunnels. Prepare to defend them." she instructed. "Got it. We'll start preparations. You on your way back?" he questioned. "Yes. We'll be there shortly." she replied. "See you soon, then." And with that the comm fell silent and Aeris and Saila made their way back to the temple, using their Force sight to guide them, while the others prepared for the potential onslaught that was to come.