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Nar Shaddaa


BLCKCLONE

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I nodded my head in the direction of the Jedi that had been spending time with Master Armiena's son, as well as Aiden, before exiting the room. Despite having been summoned, I felt my presence here was a bit intruding, so I opted out of the encounter. In truth, it was just good to see her smile after hearing stories of her son. 

 

Just outside, I found an ammunitions crate to prop up on, taking a small device I had acquired back on Borleias out of my pocket and placing its comms into my ear as a ambiance melody began to play through its connection. The Doctors back on Borleias used these inexpensive devices to help calm their nerves and steady their hands, and while meditation would likely do the same for me, I felt it best if I couldn't hear the on going conversation between the two taking place. As much as it was intrusive, it was also rude of me to eavesdrop.

 

On occasion, my glance would wander back to them, but for the most part, I delved into small meditations while I enjoyed the sounds of waves upon sandy shores and the chirping of forest birds resounding within my ears. When Master Armiena was ready to introduce me or have me follow her, she would let me know. Until then, I kept up with my studies within the Force.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had been sitting there, watching the hall in silence as I listened to the music player, lost in ignorant bliss that was it's tantalizing orchestra, when I caught Armiena's figure out my perifial. Jumping up, I pulled the small ear attachments out just in time to catch her sincere smile and her unneeded thanks. 

 

I smiled and shook it off with a wave of the hand, my gaze shifting offhand to Aidan as the two others disappeared before shifting back to my Master as she finished speaking. "Firstly, there is no need for thanks. If I could see my mother or father one last time, I would consider it a blessing. And from what I've seen, he has grown largely in part because of you whether or not you know it."

 

"Secondly...." My face frowned as I replied to the rest of her words, my dreading this day apparent as I began to finish speaking. "I know you mean no harm by instructing me, and I honestly have no idea what I could do to replace such a tradition... or whether I should or not if I am truly to walk the path of a Jedi. Jedi have always been known by simple glance of the blade whether it was activated or not, and as such, I feel I would only shame the lives given by the Jedi if I dont do the same."

 

I sat in silence as I brought my gloved hand up to my face as thoughts crossed my mind, the thought of creating such a thing tearing at my soul, but my mind lost upon any other options. Finally I finished. "So, unless you have any other ideas, I think I should create one. Just because I do still doesn't mean I ever have to activate it or use it."

 

It had crossed my mind during our travels alot, and Armiena had always been respectful to my wishes. And despite my idealogy of walking the path of the Jedi without a weapon, I had begun to realize its futility as well as the lineage that I was now becoming a part of. Jedi gave their lives, but not without meaning. So a part of me felt that I should open myself up to what they stood for, even if it infringed upon my own thoughts and feelings. It was hard, but it was a choice I had to be willing to make in order to grow as one.

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I could hear Master Armiena's words and feel her intent behind them as she sat down beside me, my mind contemplating my own thoughts and intent. And I had noticed that she walked a very different path than most of the Jedi I had came across during my mine under her tutelage, so it made since her views differed. Yet my life as one had just begun, still a mere infant compared to her own and so my mind still sang the chorus of the Mantra we quoted on a daily basis. There is no emotion, only peace. There is no ignorance, only knowledge. There is no passion, only serenity. There is no death, only the Force. This was something I had embedded and embued into my very soul. And because of it, tradition rang through my heart to it's very core. Perhaps in time, it would change, as all things do. But in the here and now, it was firm within my spirit.

 

"I understand Master." I spoke, my hand pulling forth the crystal shard that I had carried since my arrest on Dantooine, its aquatic blue hue glimmering in the lighting that fell upon our forms. It had always felt alive to me, its presence intertwined with my own as if it felt a part of me and my connection with Armiena. "But if I am to become a Jedi, I want to become one in the truest sense of the word, the Order's tradition carved into me to the very core."

 

I smiled after I said that, my eye gleaming upward to her. It was the first real decision that I had truly settled on since being taken on as her Padawan. And in truth, a natural sense of humbled pride swelled up within me at the thought. I was finally beginning to grow. And as i thought that, my mind began to concept what i would forge as my blade, a blade that deep down, i still hoped that i would never have to truly use. Most of what i saw amongst the Jedi were pretty standard parts, availability common almost anywhere. But i never really cared for standard hilts, including the ones Armiena carried. They were bulky and looked uncomfortable to even hold. Yet, perhaps that was the point, to never truly get comfortable to their feel within your hand. But still, I felt what I could only describe to a call, to forge a sleek and comfortable handle, perhaps even curved slightly. Or at least, what I pictured in my mind. 

 

"You mentioned a junkyard moonside?" I questioned inquisitively, the knots still churning within my stomach despite my mind being fully made by this point. "When do you think we would have time to visit such a place?"

 

In honesty, part of me was excited like a child waiting on S. Claus, while the other half was as shaken by the realization as I was the day I woke after my parents had been killed, which tore at me. It felt natural and unnatural all at the same time. It was as confusing as it was revealing, and in truth, I wanted to rush past this part of my training as fast as possible to simply have it done and over with so I could focus on what was to come next. As I waited for her words of wisdom to reach my ears, I looked down at my hand and pondered on what the weapon would feel like while memories of the last still phantomly plagued the feeling of my hand as I gripped at it and pulled my hand from around its invisible and unmade form. Only one questioned remained. Was it truly ready to weild such a weapon again? It was time to truly find out.

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I blankly stared at Master Armiena for a long moment before I blinked, half expecting her to shout to the heavens like she did the day we met upon Borleias, a memory that felt so distant to me now. I shook myself from the thought, or rather, my writer wrote me as such before he wrote me reaching up to accept the dataslate. T'was a weird experience to unknowingly and subconsciously acknowledge that my actions were not of my own, but the figmented imagination of another. But I digress. I nodded and began to walk away, the ship we were aboard being as alien to me as the next. I could only follow my gut and the imagination of my writer's as I searched this eclipsing destroyer for a singular room of knowledge as my writer subtly prayed that what he described was as adequate as possible for believability.

 

Leaving our location, I wandered its many twists and turns, occasionally stopping to ask directions here and there to no avail. Everyone I spoke to held no knowledge of an archival room that held basic knowledge of that was readily available, most directing to the archival rooms that held data about past missions, personnel files, and redacted classified materials. In truth, had the ship been designed for training rather than war, it could have possibly easier to find such a room, but as a warship, it was limited to militant records. And as a Jedi Padawan not affiliated with its military, even the archival room I managed to finally reach was off limits. I was, however, directed to a nearby terminal by a scruffy gent with a medium build that oversaw the militant archives.

 

Accessing the terminal, I was able to find most of what I needed, most of the basic Jedi files converted to the terminals for quick access during downtime. Scrolling through the different types and configurations, I had to admit that I was fascinated with the many concepts and materials listed. It seemed that it listed a type for every Jedi that ever existed, especially on the few sites my writer had incorporated, most notably Wookiepedia's Legends tab. Fitting name actually. Downloading the concepts and materials that caught my interest, I unplugged the dataslate and began my trek back to meet up with Armiena, simultaneously realizing that I had took more time than required and was running late for our rendezvous. Thirty minutes since I departed, I ran up to her, knots still in my stomach.

 

"Forgive me Master." I spoke, slightly out of breath after running most of the way back in an attempt to meet the deadline despite doubling it, mostly due to my inquisitive mind reading through most of what I did download, including a lightsaber form i had found that struck my interest. "I was able to find what I needed.... most of it basic concepts and material.... did you know that the crystal shards we share are Adegan crystals?"

 

Catching my breath, I finally stood up and released my grasp from upon my knees. "It states that I need to meditate and imbue the crystal with the Force before I can begin construction of the lightsaber. Can you teach me how?

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As my breathing began to slow and I took notice of my surroundings, my gaze fell upon a familiar form. McShipface. It wasn't the prettiest or admirable ship around, but it had been there for the first leg of our journey from Borleias to Coruscant. My gaze shot around, half expecting to see Armiena's mother Misal somewhere nearby, but the excitement soon left my face when I realized she was nowhere around. A bit disheartening considered I liked the elderly Miraluka and wanted to show her how much I had grown since that day on Coruscant. With a sigh, I leaned up against the ramp's hydraulics as I listened to her words carefully and attentively, only to have my jaw drop at the last of them.

 

Dantooine… the place of my birth, the place of my orphanage, the place of my arrest. It was a place that held no fond memories for me, nor a place I could fathom ever returning to. But by now I had long come to find that coincidences weren't a reality, and in this case, it seemed to come full circle. The very place I ran from would now be that of which I began the truest of my first steps as a Jedi. The irony was almost astonishing. Reaching my hand in my pocket, I ran my finger against it's cooling surface, the memories of my life on Dantooine plaguing at my mind as I thought it over. But, in truth, there was really nothing left to thing over. I had already made my decision and I needed to stick by my convictions. Even that in which I chose to build a weapon. Pulling myself off the hydraulic bar, my gaze shifted entirely upon Armiena, my cycloptic eye filled with intent.

 

"You know my history with Dantooine, what life I lived upon it's plains." I spoke with a instructive tone, it coming off as soft and almost understanding as the words departed my lips. "I suppose it would make a good enough place as any."

 

I hadn't carried much since Armiena and I first met, so I didn't need anytime to gather anything up. I wasn't sure about her, but I was as ready to depart as I could get. But I shifted my gaze around one last time, taking in the sights, smells, sounds, and even the aura of life that emitted from this small moon. I took in a deep breath, letting my mind flow upon the currents that swept around us before reeling myself back in with a content smile. If I was going to set foot back upon Dantooinian soil, it was best that I returned with the heart and mind of a Jedi. And now that I had fully chosen this path, I was truly ready... ready to face whatever was to come. Turning back to Armiena I poised one last question before we would embark McShipface. With an inquisitive eye, I asked... "Do we need to gather any materials before we head to Dantooine?"

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I always enjoyed watching Maater Armiena wonder off into her incoherent mumbles of techo-babble, the Elder Miraluka obviously holding vast knowledge where I held little to none. For the most part, I simply tried to keep up and gather what little I could from what she discussed, finding subtle hints to what each part meant by simply following the discussion in bits and piecing it together in my head. Such was the difference between us in such areas. But I still found it enjoyable nonetheless.

 

The scratching noise of her artificial prosthetic caused me to flinch and lose the imagery within my head, but thankfully Armiena quickly boarded and I followed just a foot behind. There were major differences in the ship that I noticed as we made our way to the cockpit, certain sections sealed off and taped for reasons oblivious to me that made me slightly weary, but I shook it off as damages sustained during its fleeing of Coruscant and likely whatever Misal encountered afterwards, continuing onward to the cockpit which I could definitely see a major improvement in, my gaze shifting toward Master Armiena  as she inspected, the obvious signs of their mother and daughter relationship abundant in their shared fields of study. She was definitely Misal's daughter, of that, there was no doubt.

 

Shifting back to the conversation we were having before, I tried to get a word in edgewise about there being no need of visiting the Khoonda plains nor the crystal caves located there, my hand slipping into my pocket to bring forth the very object she sought, but when she got like this, it was just best to sit back and go along for the ride. Perhaps she had other reasons to chance the kinrath and visit them, so I simply nodded and followed her lead. Or at least as best as I could.

 

My stomach was in knots and I felt the urge to regurgitate as she handed the controls over to me, evident by the trembling of my hands as they slide across and gripped the ship's controls. It felt weird, a good weird to be honest, like something I could enjoy once I gathered the hang of it. But in the here and now, with my hands trembling like a man with tourettes, there was no enjoyment to be found and only caution plagued my thoughts.

 

But somehow, some way, I managed to usher the ship out of the hangar with only a minor groaning of metal against metal as I etched a hairline scratch into the ship's thick hull, before we hit open space and I engaged the hyperdrive, memories of Dantooine encompassing my mind. 

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