ulic qel-droma

The Alderaanian courtiers had never liked him. It was as simple as that. No matter what Ulic did they looked upon him with disdain, and sometimes pity, which angered him far more than the former. His mother, a great Jedi, had warned him to ignore such feelings. It didn't matter what the courtiers thought, she would say; Ulic's destiny with the Force transcended such idle chatters. He should not let himself become distracted.

But Ulic could not brush off the constant derisive looks at the whispers that seemed to follow him. He needed to prove his worth and to show them all that he could rise to their level, and surpass them.

Throughout his education, Ulic tested the waters of various academic and extracurricular areas, seeking one in which he could excel. He threw himself into each project with such vigor that anyone who had to coordinate with him on the effort would surrender their position of the work to Ulic, who didn't mind since he thought he could do a better job at it anyway. To his credit, Ulic usually succeeded in his goal, drawing the respect and attention of his superiors. Unfortunately, he would also inevitably become bored with each area, feeling that he had met and overcome the challenge presented. And in the meantime, he would have already become enraptured with some other knowledge, art, or pasttime, pushing his prior focus further from his mind.

The one area he had neglected was the Force, mostly because he didnt want to feel --or lead others to believe -- that he had to ride his mother's coattails to succeed. But when he had exausted all of his other options, he reluctantly turned toward the Jedi Way -- and to his utter delight he found that he possessed a natural talent with the Force. Unlike his previous endeavors, he did not need to expend all of his energy at ever step of the way. He felt more relaxed and more confident than ever before.

His dedication to the Jedi Way did not subside as his skills improved. Instead it seemed to increase, eventually surping almost every hour outside of the time he spent on classwork and family duties. To Ulic's surprise his mother told him that she was concerned with the intensity of his study. She worried that he had missed the underlying message of the Way, and that he would get himself into trouble if he continued on such a course. Ulic dismissed her fears, quoting the Jedi code to prove that he did understand what the Jedi stood for, but his mother remained unsatisifed. Soon, however, she told Cay and Ulic that she had arranged for them to become apprentices of Master Arca Jeth on the remoteworld of Arkania, for she believed that their close relationship with her, coupled with the distractions of Alderaan, prevented the two of them from growing stronger in the Force. Her misgivings about Ulic remained.

Cay and Ulic traveled to Arkania within the week. There they continued their study of the Force, concentrating on lightsaber combat. As he had always done, Ulic excelled, learning and mastering the techniques presented by Arca more quickly than any of his fellow apprentices. But his relentless efforts and his sometimes reckless attempts to prove his ability brought concerned words from Cay, Tott, and Arca.

Master Arca cautioned Ulic against leaping headlong into action without thought, and therefore, without the Force as an ally. Ulic listened to Arca's words, trying to understand what had so disturbed the Jedi Master that he felt the need to come to Ulic with it. Perhaps Ulic was moving too quickly -- Both Arca and his mother, reknowened Jedi warriors, had voiced similar concerns. He vowed to rein in his natural urgings, to make sure he was always in control, so as not to cross what Arca had described as "the boundary between peace and choas."

After several years of apprenticeship, Ulic,Cay, and Tott journeyed to Onderon at Arca's order. It was their duty to put an end to the civil war that had raged across the planet for centuries.