Kailen Aeli

"It's not necessarily that the crystals already belong to someone, but that they want to belong to someone." Kailen said, looking longingly into the depths of the yellow crystal that she held in her hand. It had a simplicity that she enjoyed, with a complexity that coincided with her analytical brain. She enjoyed running through the equations again and again. She could feel the answers before they came and she could see the results of each in the solution of every puzzle. She was in a trance of technological wonders when Allos' fear brought her back. She looked once more and nodded her head slowly. The bushy redhead took a look at the light saber in one hand, the crystal in the other and then gazed up at the crystals on the ceiling. They glowed with a quiet intensity, but they were not for her. She had already bonded a crystal. It reveled in her presence and she in its. The other crystals could have been a memory, but she was sincerely doubtful. She used Allos to keep her rooted in reality and then looked around at the tomb they were still standing in. "I should have enough for my Master. He was kind of non-specific when he made the request, but I suppose we should get back soon. He may wonder where we ended up if we don't." Kailen looked toward Halo, her partner in crime, when she noticed the young girl getting attached to her own stone. She didn't say anything to Kailen when she noticed, nor did she say anything to Kailen when the prospect of leaving arrived, but Kailen suspected that she wouldn't have a problem if she needed to move on.

((The delay is atrocious I know. I will be a little more diligent in the future. Love is very distracting )) Kailen took another look at the crystals that Allos mentioned. They were simple and blue, almost like ice crystals, but underneath the thick layer of ice, each crystal took on a sublime colorful beauty that stood out to Kailen more than it did before. One of the crystals, one that protruded from the cold stony ground nearby, was embedded in a stalagmite. She looked at it intensely and, for a moment, she saw a powerful yellow glow. It was the color of the morning sun as it broke over the horizon on Naboo. It was the color of electricity as it lit up her brain and it was the color of the stars as the sun left and blazed across the sky in a sea of flame. She reached out to the stalagmite with an eerie transfixed glare and when her hand met the ice, it melted almost immediately at her touch. Thousands of electrical sequences cascaded through Kailen's mind at frequencies the human brain almost couldn't comprehend. It was so awesome that the shock of the experience almost terrified her. Her emerald green eyes looked deep into the intricate lattice structure of the crystal she freed from the ice and a spark of light lept from her hand to the top most point of the object. She cradled it gently like one would and infant and continued to look at it was warmth and admiration. "I don't know what these are exactly, other than force crystals, but each one seems to have a strong resonance. It seems like each one calls out for someone to take them. Each one calls out for someone different to find them an claim them." Kailen said slowly while still staring at the yellow crystal that she held in her closed palm.

Kailen was still a little off from her close encounter of the Jedi kind, but she could hear Alos' voice like a muffled whisper through her matted orange hair. Condensation built up on the cold hilt of the broken light saber with every warm breath from Kailen's mouth. She massaged the different buttons and admired the craftsmanship of the hilt. There were small scratches on the metal, pieces of dust and residue on the handle itself which were indicative of constant use and the optics seemed intact. However, Kailen could feel that there was something wrong with the blade. She opened her eyes to the world around her, even with her exhausted mind, and saw the working parts on the inside of the blade. Each part glowed with a different hue, but their hues were muted because they were old and rusted. They didn't work together anymore and he she couldn't fathom what she needed to make them work. Well she could, but she would have to overhaul the entire design, which would take hours and defeat the purpose of the antique. The wiring was clean, but the ferrous metal in them was corroded and ineffective. The crystals that made up the core and optics seemed fine upon initial inspection, but they had several fractures that would make any activation of the light saber a dangerous way to tempt fate. Alos pointed out the crystals above them and his suggestion was good, but there was more work to be done to the blade before it could be activated again, let alone be used in combat. She looked up at Alos with a half grin followed by a shrug. She shook her head back and forth slightly, wondering if she should verbally spout all of her discovery, but decided against it. If he asked, she would let him know. “No,” Kailen said softly. “It needs a bit more work than that. It is a keepsake of the Jedi that died here years ago. Ulic Qel Droma. We are in his tomb.” Kailen looked around, shifting her eyes to scan each and every rune and relic with newfound intensity. Now that she knew it was a tomb, she was looking for old writings and trying to decipher what happened here. She couldn’t understand most of the runes because they were old and hard to understand, but she had a general enthusiasm for pieces of history and technology, so this place was like a drug to her curious impulses. She walked around Halo and Alos indiscriminately, picking things up and putting them down. Anything she picked up, she often picked up a second time. When she was asked to explain why, she would often mumble something under her breath. It went on like that for roughly an hour or so, before Kailen decided that her habit was dominating the point of their adventure out here and that the group should find something else to do or find. She gingerly placed the old light saber hilt in her pocket and rejoined Halo and Alos wherever they happened to be. She sighed openly, but she wasn’t bored. She made an idle gesture toward the pair and something glinted in her emerald green eyes. “Are there any other frozen structures on this planet Alos?” Kailen said, a large smile building on her freckled face.

((Because Halo isn’t here, I am going to use this moment for a little character development if you don’t mind Mr. Random PC guy.)) It was colder on the inside of the structure, which seemed extremely odd, given the circumstances. However, at this point, Kailen wasn’t really surprised. Her bushy red hair was wrapped into a small knot by a loose leather thong and covered with a thin layer of frost. Her nose was a deep cherry red and her freckles almost blended in with the pallor of her face. Her expression was a bounty of excitement with lingering anxiety, but she was ready for anything. Kailen’s breath was mists in front of her face, illuminated only by the strength of the light stick that Alos held in his hand. The procession of the group was careful and slow, but Kailen wasn’t sure if the group was in any danger or not. Still, it was better to be cautious and alive than foolhardy and dead. The young adult Jedi couldn’t keep her eyes off of the structure and everything inside of it. Like a child in a candy shop, she was enthralled by everything. The building was massive for something that had been buried so long in the snow, but it wasn't as old as Kailen initially believed. Some of the ruins on Tython resembled this design; they were ruins of an older age of Jedi, but they were still within a close enough timeline as to be discernible by scholars today. The stone around them was thick. Kailen reached out to touch it as they went and felt the grooves of fine carving. She felt the strength of the stone structure as it stood and marveled at the architectural integrity of it all. It was all so amazing that Kailen could hardly contain her excitement. She parted a small way from the group, but stayed within range of Alos’ light stick. She stopped in front of a number of tall pedestals and gaped at the innovation, the design and the mastery of the stonework. The artists it took to make such fine work were undoubtedly dead and gone, but the immortality of their work stood as a testament to their skill. Something was wrong though. Kailen could feel something uncomfortable and unsettling deep inside her body. A chill crawled up and down her spine and when she turned her head to look back at the group, she saw them. Kailen’s heart seized up and her hair stood on end. Her expression went quickly from amazement to shock and she raised her arms frantically in the air. She opened her mouth and was about to scream when something she saw caught her eye and helped confirm the craziness of her previous assumption. What she saw were two barely visible phantasms walking along the stone floor with a low blue-ish glow. While this occurrence wouldn’t mean much to those who couldn’t feel the force, another padawan or Jedi would see them clear as day. One of the ghosts looked over at her and cocked his head for a moment. He was a tall man with a chiseled jaw. He had short hair and looked to be a little bit older, but he was built in a manner somewhat like a small Wookiee without all the hair. He had soft, intense eyes and he looked at her with care and deep sentiment written in his aged expression. He swiveled his head slowly back and forth as if condemning something and came closer to Kailen, scaling the distance between them rather quickly. The young woman was terrified yet simultaneously transfixed by the apparition. Kailen had barely enough time to walk backward when she heard him speak in a low but pleasant voice. Why are you here at the place of my resting, young Jedi? Kailen had to double back a moment or two and pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t going crazy. When she finally came to grips with what she was seeing, she cleared her throat and proceeded as if everything was okay. "Place of your resting?" Yes padawan, this is my tomb. My name is Ulic Qel Droma and you have stumbled into one of the chambers where my possessions were kept. Kailen was a little on edge at the moment, but the name sounded somewhat familiar. She couldn’t quite place where it came from and she still thought she was going crazy, but she speculated deeply about what was going on. She looked around and noticed the relics on pedestals that she had been gawking at again and again. Then she looked over at Halo and Alos for assistance, but they kept moving through the chamber. It made a little sense, but her head was buzzing with his name, trying to find some sort of reference. She made a connection with the Jedi, based on his candor and demeanor, but she couldn’t quite peg just how significant this man was or may have been before his death. "Uh… Were you a Jedi or something? How do you know I’m a padawan? How can I see you, but how… how… how…" Kailen was hyperventilating a little bit and her breaths were a little too shallow to provide the much needed oxygen to her brain. She almost blacked out from exasperation, but the apparition’s cold touch on her shoulder ironically brought her senses back from death and let her focus on him and his message. He smiled a little too warmly given his present condition, but the gesture seemed to cool Kailen’s hysteria and put her at ease, even if she was still clenching every muscle in her bottom. I was a Jedi, but I fell to the dark side. I redeemed myself with my final acts in this world and I was immortalized as a fallen hero in this stone tomb. Here I reside in peace with the love of my life who found me in death as she too left the mortal world. The other spirit, which stalled for a moment on the other side of the room, joined the first. It was a smaller, gentler form with shoulder length curly hair and an expression that said she thrived on adventure and excitement. When the spirit came closer, Kailen could make out the clearly feminine curves and build. She could also see the affection in Ulic’s eyes. It was engaging; it was hypnotizing and it hurt Kailen so much that she was beyond words. Flashbacks of Ca’aran powered through her mind like a reckless tractor smashing through all of her hopes and dreams. Chaos spread in her mind and the warm tingly feelings she felt on the edges of her eyes, were met with soft, salty tears. She couldn't bear the memories. She couldn't bear the pain. It was too much. The new spirit looked over at Kailen and her expression shifted to something somber and sentimental. She ‘walked’ slowly over to the young Jedi and touched her hand to the bottom tip of Kailen’s chin which was now digging into her chest. The female apparition raised Kailen’s teary eyed face and looked deeply into her eyes. Her voice was softer than Ulic’s and had an airy quality that mitigated the pain flooding into Kailen’s heart. I have felt your pain young one. When Ulic left and I found out that he fell to the dark side, I felt a large hole deep in the bowels of my heart. It wasn’t something easily reparable and it was a cause for no lack of grief or desire on my part. The only thing that helped me in the long run was holding on to what I cared about. If I dwelled too much on those feelings, or if I let them burrow deep inside, I would have left with bitter cold memories. Pain is occasionally healthy to grow, but too much pain is dangerous. Ulic’s eyes were grim and his expression was very serious. He looked over at Kailen and stared deeply into her eyes as the other spirit had. Don’t let that pain consume you. I fell to the dark side, as I said, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Sure, the passionate freedom and the overwhelming power are the feints of the Dark Side’s appeal, but you need not be lured by such things. Kailen’s teary sobs jerked her body up and down, but she nodded slowly. She looked up with her tearstained face, covered by now matted carrot orange hair and smiled weakly. The female apparition closed on her and offered her a hand on her heaving shoulder, but it was hollow. Kailen was still not convinced that she was seeing reality, and the normally warm gesture was rather chilling when done by a ghost. Still, right now, Kailen was just trying to work through the lingering pain left by Ca’aran. The two spirits stood for a moment and looked at her, exchanging sympathetic glances. Then Ullic raised Kailen’s heavy head from her chest and guided her to her feet. He wasn’t corporeal, but the very act of having a ghost touch her skin pushed Kailen to her feet even if she didn’t want to on her own. I have something here that may help you. Ullic said as he floated down the halls past Alos and Halo. Kailen was cautious to follow, but the other ghost was leading her on and in the end she figured, if she was going to die, then she would have died already. It wasn’t the best logic, however it was enough for Kailen to dust herself off and follow behind him. She motioned to Alos and Halo if they wanted to follow, but she continued on regardless, continuing to wipe the lingering tears from her eyes. When the two of them reached the end of their journey, Ullic paused adjacent to a higher pedestal than the rest. This one had a small box on it that looked well preserved for the amount of time it spent in this ruin. Kailen noticed the craftsmanship and the design, but she had no idea what was inside. She looked over at Ullic expectantly and Ullic looked back with a small smile. Go Ahead, open it. Being the cautious young Adult that she was, Kailen immediately stepped up to the box and opened it. She wasn’t rough, but she was eager to figure out what was inside. She felt a little awkward with tears still staining her eyes and the ghost standing over her shoulder, but he gave her permission so she didn’t care. Plus, excitement is a good stress reliever, or so Kailen assumed. When she finally got the box open though, there was a broken handle inside. Kailen gently pulled the handle out and started turning it around in her hands. She cradled the bulk of it in her hands and arms and took a closer look, examining the switches, the wires and the metal. “This is a light saber!” Kailen said out loud. Ullic frowned a little, but was equally satisfied by Kailen’s exclamation. Yes, it is my light saber and it served me well, even to death. Unfortunately it doesn’t work anymore, but I hope it can help give you hope that even the most hopeless cases, even the seemingly un-redeemable can redeem and prove themselves in time. Farewell young Jedi, I hope your adventures go well and I hope your feelings subside. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the spirits vanished and Kailen was left near the pedestal with a broken light saber in her hands. “That was…. Something…” Kailen said, exasperated.

Kailen was a little wary of this sudden realization, but the key word ‘machine’ piqued her curiosity more than anything else. Hundreds of possibilities held her mind in awe for a few minutes when another sudden realization caught her off guard. It might have been the freezing cold or the fact that she was wearing a stranger’s jacket, but something felt off. She looked over at Halo and Allos with a sidelong glance, thinking about the possible danger that Kailen was leading them into. It’s true that Halo was about the same age as her and it’s true that she and Allos had been helpful in getting the group up to this point, but what kind of partner, leader, or friend would Kailen be if she led the two of them into danger because she was curious? Not a very good one, that’s sure. However, this was their mission right? Kirlocca sent them to this planet to find something and this most certainly was ‘something.’ What it was, the group was still unsure, but waffling outside the door wouldn’t do them any good anyway. Kailen took a moment or two more, holding her chin in the palm of her right hand, but when she figured that she had puzzled and rested enough, she braved her ice tunnel and placed her hand on the cold metal of the door. She had gloves, but she could still feel the sapping metal beneath her, trying to grab at her fingertips. It chilled her to the bone, but she pushed on regardless. She pulled the energy back to her hands, but isolated it in one hand this time and held back enough to save energy. It was a simple trick to do so little, but it helped a great deal. What happened next though, made her jaw drop as much as Allos’ did earlier. The door came alive at her touch and shook the ice off of it. Well, ‘shook’ might not be an effective enough word for what it did. The ice wall surrounding the door ruptured around her and without thinking Kailen rushed past, grabbed Allos’ and Halo’s sleeves, and yanked them away from the massive avalanche. She didn’t know how far she had to go, but when she could no longer hear the cracking or the smashing, she stopped and let go of both Allos and Halo. She turned around to look at the gaping open door and marveled at the amount of ice that held it closed for however many years. If it had been a simple sheet of ice it wouldn’t have been as impressive, but when the structural integrity of the ice ‘wall’ collapsed – a sheet of ice that was easily ten feet deep – Kailen couldn’t just stand still. In fact, she was still staring at it for a few minutes when she decided to look over at the others. “Well,” she said with a half-smile, “let’s hope there are no more surprises eh?” Kailen was slightly joking, but deep down she hoped there really were no more surprises. She didn’t really like surprises… ((Halo said she would be out for a bit. She said we could move on a little bit. I am not trying to go at a sprinting pace just in case she comes back in the middle, but I want to keep it going.))

"The Jedi on Gala did say I was a natural." Kailen smiled, but seemed relatively busy. "Really though, I can thank some familiarity with the force and memories of a long dead master. Its likely that Master Kirlocca will have even more things to show us when we get back, if he's willing." Kailen said in between bouts of slurry that rushed past her. Her forehead was covered in sweat, but it was virtually undetectable in the icy cold that enveloped the group. She was exerting herself a lot more than she needed to, because she hadn't attempted the technique in ages and because she didn't understand what finesse was required. She did get a little bit of assistance from Halo, but the other padawan at her side seemed to be distracted with something so the help wasn't enough to take the load off of her. Kailen couldn't tell what Halo was focusing on, but it was clear to her after most of the ice was cleared that she was focused on something else. Kailen looked at Allos and slumped a little bit, resting her hands on the tops of her knees and panting from exasperation. She wiped the crystallized sweat from her brow and rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them. She was just about to walk over to the exposed doorway when something Allos said made her turn around. Her expression wasn't irritated or upset, but she did show concern in her bushy red eyebrows. "What 'trouble tasks', Allos?" Kailen said simply, wrapping her arms around her chest.

Kailen stopped abruptly and looked up to behold the massive door. All of the metal carvings and any perceivable latches or locks were part of just one big giant rock of ice. Kailen's expression went immediately from awe to bewilderment. She didn't know how to deal with this; not off the top of her head anyway. The young carrot haired Jedi paced back and forth in front of the large obelisk of ice and continued to stroke her chin with her right hand while her left hand clasped her right elbow; like she did other times when she was in deep thought. Her face was whiter than normal, because unlike her body, it wasn't shielded from the cold and was exposed to the full force of the planet's low temperature. However, the blush of her cheeks, the hat she procured from Allos and the large sheath of orange hair kept her head warm enough that it wasn't a huge issue. Her emerald eyes pierced the depth of the metal husk and she couldn't see a way to get it out of the frozen husk. Unless... "Halo!" Kailen said, beckoning the other Jedi to her side. "I remember something that my former master told me. It isn't as pronounced as it was back then either due to brain damage or just general forgetfulness, but I remember a technique he used to maintain his body heat in the cold climate. Its ironic I remember it now, but given my little experience with using the force under stress, I don't think I could maintain the technique all the time even if I wanted to. However, we might be able to do something different with that technique and use it to melt the ice. If we can make our body radiate at normal body temperature for however long, we might be able to melt the ice with our hands and get it away from the metal." Kailen looked at Allos for a moment and then grimaced. "Allos you may want to step back. If this doesn't work or worse - if this backfires - you may want to stay away from the hulk for a little bit." When she was done talking to Allos, Kailen quickly turned her head back toward Halo and she walked closer to the hulk with her hands out in front of her. "If you have been taught to channel the force Halo, this shouldn't be a problem. If not, that is okay, I will help. Basically what you need to do for this, is you need to empty your mind, build up the force inside of you and release it as heat. Energy isn't created from nothing, so the more force energy you pour into yourself, the hotter you should get... Theoretically speaking. You will want to be careful though. The hotter we make ourselves, we could reach levels so hot that it would damage our systems. It won't happen instantaneously, but it could ruin our internal systems and possibly do more harm than good. There is also the strength of the ice structure to worry about. If we melt it too fast, it could come crumbling onto our heads. Either way, we won't know until we try." Kailen didn't know if she needed to say that last part, but at least it was honest. She made sure she had Halo's attention and then followed her own instructions. She emptied her mind and let her body slip into the world around her. It wasn't as smooth as it was years before, but she forgot most of the muscle and mental memory that came with years of training. Even her former master's words were blurry and incoherent, but she remembered the feeling of the force and when she relearned how to tap into the force on Gala, she embraced a part of her self that was almost lost in time. She remembered a part of her mind that she though lost and was a lot more comfortable with herself. That being said, even with the pleasant sensation filling her mind, it was still immensely difficult to focus on transitioning force energy into thermal energy or heat. It took all of her concentration and a lot of her strength to change the physical properties of the world around her and when she finally managed it, crystals of beaded sweat broke out on her face, accenting the freckles already there. Her hands swelled with an immense temperature and she put them directly on the icy hulk before them. It didn't take very long for it to work and when it started, Kailen's contentment and satisfaction drew her onward. Water and various forms of trapped chemicals that were housed in the frozen ice began pouring out around her at her touch and just pushed past her onto the ground. Due to the freezing temperatures of the planet, the water and other chemicals started to freeze as soon as they left her hands and eventually Kailen had successfully formed a tunnel of ice that she was burrowing through toward the center of the large structure.

After dutifully pointing Alos to the door, Kailen followed behind to watch for anything that might catch the three of them walking about. Just because they hadn't seen any wild animals, didn't meant there weren't any wild animals at all. She saw Hoth years ago, covered in miscellaneous furry mammals that would more than likely eat you first before considering any other alternative, so it didn't really hurt to be cautious. She wasn't eager to be venturing off into the freezing cold wasteland, but it was better now then never and if they sat in one place for too long, they would become complacent and just want to leave the planet altogether. Something was a little odd in the way their company carried on though. She noticed several times that, the closer she got to Halo, the further Halo walked away. It became clear after a few small tests that Halo was trying to keep space between them. Kailen was unsure why she was distancing herself in such a way, but decided to dismiss it as something that Halo wanted to do. The blistering cold winds beat against her warm freckled face when the trio finally exited onto the cold plain, but the padding of the green jacket against her chest kept her chugging along with little complaint. She wasn't pleasantly warm, but she was warm enough that she shouldn't start sneezing again, which was good. Kailen looked around as they continued on and almost missed Halo when the young Jedi started to talk once more. She still kept her distance, which was weird, but it was clear that she was interested in the journey as much if not more than Kailen was. …Well with Kailen’s help I don’t foresee that much challenge that I wouldn’t be able to handle. She’s been a great help to me thus far, and I have faith in her abilities. The way she spoke made Kailen blush a little. It wasn't easy to see, because her cheeks were already red, but it was clear that Halo trusted Kailen a lot more than she deserved. It also seemed like she had an inaccurate estimation of Kailen's abilities. She did remember some of her training from years past and was starting to remember other lessons that she learned, but she wasn't a master, let alone a knight. We are Jedi. I know for a fact that Force sight could help us located the ruin, but we’ll need to be closer to the location. Now that I’m physically prepared, thanks to your kindness Alos, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Providing Kailen is up for the challenge. Halo did have spunk, which was refreshing. She also had a rallying enthusiasm that Kailen respected and admired about her. Kailen's only thought about the adventure was that she'd get an opportunity to see old tech. She had an innate connection to anything technological and loved to take things apart and put them back together. As for force sight, her training of old was still around, but she hadn't tried it in so long that she was probably a bit rusty. Once she managed that though, there were other lessons that would come a bit easier and other proverbs that might make a little more sense. She could vaguely recall an image of the Kheldor that brought her up from a young age as a Padawan Learner. She couldn't remember his name, but his teachings and his face were like distant echoes in her mind that she carried with her everywhere.

Kailen was a little surprised by Halo's forthrightness, but she said nothing. She looked at Alos for a time and let the younger woman speak. The term 'technology' held a great deal of weight in Kailen's mind and she was a little excited to get started, but she didn't want to step out the door without getting a little perspective. "First of all, like my companion, I would like to thank you for your help. You have done so much without request and I appreciate it. If you know where an artifact is, we don't need to speak to anyone else. In fact, the less people know we're here, the better. With the probability of Jedi Artifacts on this planet being unpredictable, we may draw more unwanted attention our way then we want to. The Sith may be interested in our little project and if that is the case, then the smaller our presence on this planet is, the better off we'll be in the long run." Kailen said, taking a few moments to zip up several zippers and get the green coat on a little tighter. It was big and puffy, which was ideal for warmth, but it had some holes in the bottom because it wasn't properly fastened. The Red head idled in front of one of the other chairs in the room and looked around for a few moments. She stroked at her chin and tried to remember or think what their master would have asked in this situation. The only likely answer or conclusion seemed to be, find the artifact anyway they could and remove it before the Sith got their hands on it. "The lightsaber would be the best place to start. I might be able to piece it back together if it is broken, but if other attention is required, we may have to wait until we return to Lehon." Kailen said with a soft smile. She stood to her full height and walked toward to door with a purpose. Then she stopped just outside and waited with her hands pointed toward the exit. "After you Alos."

Kailen was already warm when she caught the jacket with her off hand. It was a bit too big for her, but she immediately slipped one of the jumpsuits off in favor of the thicker garment. She ignored the fact that the jacket made her look immensely fat and instead enjoyed the increasing warmth it gave her. There were many coos of delight from within the jacket's embrace. In fact, Kailen almost forgot what they had visited the planet for until Halo chimed in. "We're here looking for any intact Jedi artifacts that we can bring back to the temple on Lehon. Thank you for letting us into your lovely home and lending us these jackets, but that is our true purpose here." Kailen said, slowly. "Do you know of anything like that around here?" She was well aware that they landed near a ruined piece of architecture, but she had never been here before, so she didn't know if there was a door or anything. This man might have a lead, even if it was a weak one and she was eager to return and begin her training again.

Kailen was a little surprised by Halo and sneezed to announce her arrival. The cold air crept up her spine while the door stood open and she only drew comfort when the door closed. Kailen hadn't been a very good guest so far, but seeing as how her skin had just barely thawed, she wasn't particularly attentive or careful when it came to her attitude. She was still standing near the front of the room-house-thing when the mysterious man answered her question and to be completely honest, Kailen didn't really believe his story. Now that she could feel her body, she let her thoughts wander. She let her mind probe at him through the force, but spoke to him as if nothing else was going on. Her expression was mixed with severity, but she tried to pepper it with pleasantness to ward off hostility. "...So you are one of the only settlers on an uninhabitable ice ball?" Kailen asked incredulously. The freckles on her forehead furrowed within a common worry wrinkle she had on her forehead and due to lingering stiffness, the wrinkle remained for a minute or two afterwards. "How do we know you aren't a Sith? Or some sort of bogey hermit man?" She eyed him cautiously, but the warmth of the house was beginning to wear down her defenses. She started to remember that this man, even if she didn't know his motives, let them into his house out of the shrouded kindness of his heart and was offering to cloth them. Somewhere along the path of her resolve, Kailen found that she did have manners; albeit a small amount when any part of her was freezing cold. "However, since you told us your name, I will tell you mine. I am Jedi Padawan Kailen Sira Aeli." Kailen pointed a heavily gloved thumb toward Halo who was shivering at her side and said, "This is my companion and if she feels fit to give you her name, then that is her call." Kailen was still a little stiff in manner, but the warmth was helping.

Kailen gripped at her sides to check if she could still feel her arms. The harsh, heavy fabric of her jumpsuits bit against her skin. It didn't take long for the freezing temperature to consume them, which meant that they provided very little comfort from the icy cold storm. They were the only protection she had though, so she needed to make do. Her nose was blooming like a rose and every other step she let out a sneeze that rivaled the one directly before it. The force of the sneezes would bring her to a stop for a moment or two, but eventually she would catch up to the strange old man and continue trudging through the thick snow. The hut approached quicker than she had anticipated, but by the time she reached the door, she could barely feel anything. From her head to her toes, every single appendage was lost to her. The strange old man moved past her and opened the large metal door and revealed a cozy room. The warm air wrapped around her. Tingling sensations poured through and clasped at the coldest parts of her body, relieving her ails. She stepped through the threshold and immediately felt the heat from the fire. It mas magical. The ambient temperature of the room was comfortable and as Kailen moved further inside, she could feel her whole body beginning to acclimate. The room, if it could be called that, was larger than it seemed from the outside. It was spacious and comfortable for a hut in the middle of nowhere owned by a random old man. The fact that it had any amenities at all suggested that this man was no ordinary old man, but Kailen didn't really care to much to question at the moment. She was enjoying the warm air and the occasional sneeze. She was as happy as she needed to be for the moment. "It's not much, but it kept me warm during these past few years here on this frozen planet. Although I hear it's nothing compared to Hoth." Kailen grimaced at the thought of Hoth and even more at the thought of Ilum, which immediately preceded it in her mind. Both planets sounded like torture and she didn't want any part of them. Where were all the requests for terrestrial or tropical planets? Would it kill them to assign her to Naboo or something? She looked at the old man after a particularly loud sneeze and tried to fashion exactly who he was in her mind. It was difficult. "Who are you?" she said frankly after a minute or two of silence.

Kailen was a little concerned about meeting a strange man in the middle of a frozen wasteland, even if there was a giant Jedi Ruin clinging to the edges of the icy valley. The fact that he was here could mean there were others, or it could mean that he was the guardian of the planet and was meant to kill anyone who stepped foot near the ruins. Kailen didn't know for sure, but when he said that he had access to winter clothes, some part of her accepted him completely as if nothing else mattered. You either die out here a Kailen-cicle, or you follow a strange man to his hut and probably die there, whichever comes first. The death she would suffer in the cold would have been much slower and more miserable than anything else she could imagine, so she followed after the man and kept an eye out for the domicile that he spoke of. She hid Halo inside the shuttle that they both used to get to the planet and rigged the atmospheric regulators to maintain the temperature at somewhere between sixty and eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Halo was taking time to thaw out, but Kailen didn't want to lose the man's trail, so on her way out of the starboard airlock she grabbed a few flares and left a trail behind her as she went. She could see the man in front of her as she ran to catch up despite the protestation of her limbs. The biting chill of the breeze against her cheek threatened to send her to the ground, but she was motivated now. She could see the hut in the distance and felt warmth streaming through the center of her chest. If only I could remember that power that my master used to regulate his body temperature, then this wouldn't be that bad. Kailen rushed even further, using the momentum of her body to keep herself warm and finally managed to catch the man as the two of them neared his home.

Kailen was about to brace for another sneeze when a man broke through the whipping frozen tundra. He seemed fairly brazen to brave the blizzard as he was, but Kailen was too busy with herself to truly decipher more about the situation. The thick layers of redundant jumpsuits didn't help as much as she thought they would and the thick gloves were warm for only a minute before the omnipresent cold consumed them. She clasped her arms to her sides and could feel her teeth shaking in her jaw. Then, when the man was beginning his approach, Kailen let out a another huge sneeze. This time, the sneeze almost knocked her to her butt. "You two won't survive for very long on this planet without proper jackets." The man seemed oddly concerned about them, as if he had any stock in the condition of two women out in the middle of nowhere. Kailen could hardly debate though, because she was currently suffering for her lack of foresight. When she was going to answer him back though, she looked over at Halo for a moment and stopped. Halo was even less prepared than Kailen thought and her skin was so blue that Kailen could swear she was frozen solid. At closer observation Kailen could still see some movement, but Halo looked so cold that she could barely move. Kailen looked at the man, then looked back at Halo and then looked back at the man. "You wouldn't happen to have access t-t-t-t-oooo.... ACHOOO!!" The sneeze loosed a small pile of snow from a low hanging piece of architecture and it fell on Kailen's head. The redhead did her best to stifle a scream, but it came out as a yelp instead and reached for the higher decibels of her vocal range. When Kailen was able to stand comfortably once more and the cold of the snow had melded with the cold of the air around her, making it worse, she looked at the man once again. "You wouldn't have access to winter clothes would you?" Kailen looked around at the large ruin that surrounded the party and put Halo's body back inside the ship to help her warm up.

Kailen managed to find some way to clean her face off on the long journey to Rhen Var. She didn't really know where the planet was, but it was in the ship’s system, so navigation wasn't really that much of an issue. The only thing that she regretted was that she hadn't brought a coat. On the way to the planet she looked up a little information about Rhen Var, and the first thing she noticed in her search was, it was cold. Great, she thought, I am going to freeze my butt off out here… Kailen-cicle. Kailen had very little experience with cold, and the only experience she did have was not good. She was sent on a mission with a small squad of Jedi to resolve an issue on Hoth and she developed a rare illness from the over-abundant exposure to below freezing temperatures. It lasted a few weeks and involved a great deal of sneezing, so she wasn’t really looking forward to a repeat experience. Halo showed a little more excitement about walking hurriedly into the cold air, but Kailen managed to distract herself with the closing down of the ship long enough to delay the biting reminder that she was being foolish when she left her stuff behind. She set the landing precautions and locked all of the necessary internal storage units. When she finished that, she started arbitrarily flipping switches on the pilot control panel when she knew damn well that they did nothing when the ship was off. She didn’t turn the ship completely off, so it could stay a little warm in the frigid climate, but she turned off enough of the systems that she didn’t receive any response from the switches as she clicked them back and forth. The second thing she noticed in the planet description was that it was virtually uninhabitable and the only ‘vendors’ that got within even a few clicks of here to sell around the planet, were housed in space and they were very few in number. There was little to no one else on this planet as far as they could tell, so Kailen was already eager to leave as much of Rhen Var behind as she could. After an hour or so of delaying and arbitrary searching, Kailen managed to procure a thicker jumpsuit in the back of the ship and put it on over the suit she already had. It was a little tight in places due to the overlay in fabric, but she slipped it on and followed Halo out. “HOLY CRAP!” Kailen yelped when she exited the vessel, because she came face to face with a giant pylon buried in the snow. The pylon was made of solid stone and it looked to be hundreds of years old or more. Kailen’s mouth formed a really large ‘O’ and persisted in shock until she noticed more of the structure buried in the ice. “I think we found something Halo, and we barely even walked out the front door.” This development was interesting to say the least and some part of Kailen wanted to justify their search and run away while she still could, but some part of her –despite Kailen’s misgivings about cold – wanted to continue searching. “There’s got to be a door around here or something.” Kailen said, placing the large leather work gloves she used earlier on two very frozen, freckled hands. “ACHOOO!” Kailen’s entire body convulsed with the force of the sneeze and the sound echoed across the frozen plain. Great…