Haruun Kal

[Rajah]

Rajah grinned up at Hou-Jo. She slid and arm around his waist. Tension that she hadn't realized was holed up within her, melted away. Inwardly she was amazed at the soothing effect that Hou-Jo's touch could instill.

 

Her coal black eyes settled upon the men that were introduced. She smiled and nodded in greeting to Amon and Krishna. The name Tzeentch was vaguely familiar. She couldn't remember where she might possibly have heard it.

 

She offered her hand up to Krishna and grinned in response to his wink. "Yes. Rajah it is. Pleasure to meet you too, Krishna." Her head tilted to the side a little as she inspected the guy. "You're not a Jedi, are you? Your laughter is far too unreserved to be the laughter of a Jedi. Almost infectious. Like... a breath of fresh air."

 

Boundless energy seemed to radiate from the young man. Her grin brightened a bit. "Are you to be Jedi-ified too?" she asked Krishna.

 

Her eyes darted over to Amon. She wondered about the seemingly retrospective other son of Tzeentch. Wondered what might have brought him to the Jedi. Wondered who was to train him. Her smile slowly faded but not entirely. She suspected she knew who was to train Amon.

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp sliently laughed to himself as his padawan went to finish her assigned push-ups.

Well what do ya know she seems to have quite the knack for the force. She'll most likly show me a thing or two before her kngithood.

 

Scorp sighed and leanedback in a chair. While this place was suppose to be his home he did not feel like training his padawan in such an environment. A Jedi base only offered so much no he would have to take her off planet. Most likley either to Hoth or Tattooine nothing like an extreme temperature to help motovate some one. especially when it was coupled with danger either from the elements itself or from the life that lived there.

 

He quitly reflected on which one would be the better choice.

[Krishna]

Flipping back part of the long draping locks of shiny black hair which fell across his forehead, Krishna's silky smooth facial features could be seen in full once again. The muscle bound young man laughed easy once more upon the question of being 'Jedi-ified'; it was obvious she had more a taste for humor then either his brother or the other man held.

 

"You ask me as if I have a choice, hah!" He motioned over to Amon, taking a step closer so they were side to side, before wrapping a big tight arm around his opposite side, squeezing his shoulder in against his chest.

 

"This is all the reasoning I need in the world! Yes, yes, this scrawny bro o' mine wishes to join the ranks of the Jedi as well. I'd travel the ends of the universe to stay with 'em now that we're reunited again. After all, we're all each other got now."

 

The light-hearted tone which had rose in the conversation at the very beginning began to dwindle as the far more serious aspect of the split came back to mind. A slight pause was made as his brillant face showed a sudden sullen expression before tossing his hair back to either side once again, forcing that same smile with another outburst of warm laughter.

 

"But, hah, yeah! Sure, why not, eh? How 'bout you, though?"

 

It was at this time he leaned in slightly closer to her, well aware of the connection between her and Hou-Jo, but it had been far too long since he had seen any woman quite like Rajah before. His nature to be very social and inviting could not resist the sight of a challenge as well.

 

One hand formed along his bicep, obviously showing off his body as he made casual conversation once again, "Got any good 'tips' to offer a guy like me?"

 

The same daring wink came into play upon the reference to 'tips,' wide bright smile curling off to one side to appear more mischevious then before...

[Rajah]

Rajah's lips split into a beaming grin. She could barely contain the laughter that welled up within her. Krishna's charasmatic forwardness was cute beyond words.

 

"From the look of you, you've developed quite wonderfully all on your own. Think I'll keep my tips all to myself for the time being."

 

She glanced back and forth between the two brothers and felt a sliver of sadness pierce her heart. She set that pain aside. Now was not the time for such things. Rajah glanced up at Hou-Jo.

 

"I'm going to take a wild guess here... you're going to be the one training these two, aren't you?"

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo nodded and pointed to the brother that wasn't hitting on Rajah, "I'm going to be training Amon. Should be faster then training a regular padawan. I'm ready whenever you are, Amon."

[Amon Saulot]

Let us begin, then. If I may impose, are there quarters available for me to put my things? It shouldn't take long for me to get settled in.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

"Yes, there are personal quarters in the wing next to the hangar bay. It's South to the Council Chamber. I'll meet you outside on the mesa behind the temple. Your first mission is to get onto the Battle Yard Plateau without using climbing equipment. I'll meet you there."

 

Hou-Jo turned his attention to Krishna "Since you've made it clear that you intend not to leave Amon you are welcome to settle into an adjacent room, or bunk up with your brother. Maybe you can look for females here that aren't taken that might have an interest in your 'charms'."

 

He and Rajah walked past Krishna as he patted him on the shoulder as they passed.

 

"Kids... no respect, I tell ya. I hope you're ok with me teaching this guy. I want you to know that I would never do anything to take time away from us. Maybe you can test him, mess with his head or something if the training gets to him. A genuine Son of Chaos would easily be tempted to be swayed from his teachings of passiveness to take shots at an arrogant woman, wouldn't you say so?"

[Psyche]

Psyche finished and got up, still feeling slightly sore. She walked over to Scorp and cocked her head to one side.

 

"What now?"

 

She hoped he would let her take a break or hit the refresher or something. She had been working pretty hard, but if he wanted them to continue training, that was his Master's prerogative. And Psyche had made up her mind before she ever stepped foot on Helix Station that if she was going to train with the Jedi she would do what they asked and not complain about it.

[Rajah]

Rajah grinned wickedly at Hou-Jo's suggestion but then dropped the grin only to replace it with an overly serious face.

 

"Me? Mess with a Jedi? I'd never." She said as if tremendously offended. "But since you asked so nicely I may consider it."

 

She glanced back at the brothers.

 

"See you around boys. Pleasure to meet you. Especially you, Krishna." she said with a parting grin.

 

Rajah then turned back to Hou-Jo. "So, how long do you expect his training to last?

[Amon Saulot]

::Amon hurried off to his quarters to get them set up. The quarters were small and spartan, something he was expecting. Amon first set up a small table with his plants, gardening and botany were personal hobbies of his that helped him find his center. After they were set up, he unpacked his pets, little spiders that helped protect his plants from pests. Amon liked spiders, they reminded him of Father. He unrolled a simple bed roll and then returned to the courtyard.::

 

My quarters are all set up, and I am ready to begin training.

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp smiled before ehe spoke.

 

"Well I figured you might wantto rest or get something to eat. I'll wait here and give you a little free time and give you the chance to say good bye to this place."

[Cal Regium]

Cal stood back up and faced his master's golden glow. Sweat was trickling down his brow, but he was once again relaxed. Talon seemed to have a calming effect on Cal. Every word that rolled from the master's tongue were sweet words of wisdom for Cal's mind to soak up.

 

Clear your mind of all distractions. Let the Force flow through you. Bend to its will. Let it guide your actions. Cal moved into the proper stance of Form II lightsaber combat once more. The quick jabs and parries were probably not ideal to combat Talon's more advanced Form, but for now it was as advanced as Cal knew, and he felt free and balanced using it.

 

He moved quickly and effortlessly, attacking his master with quick thrusts. He would not lose control of his emotions this time. He would listen to his master's warnings and wait for a moment when he could strike. Cal was slowly learning that patience was a virtue needed when studying the Jedi arts.

 

He wanted to see what I could do earlier, perhaps I should give him another demonstration, thought Cal, starting to gain some of his confidence back.

 

He parried a powerful swing from Talon, and trying to catch his master off gaurd, Cal summoned as much Force energy as he could. Taking a note from his master's fighting style, Cal released a wave of Force enegy, not nearly as strong as Talon's, but if directed properly, still able to knock an opponet off of their feet.

 

Cal pushed his hand towards his master's chest expecting his master to hurtle backwards through the air as he had done...

[Talon]

Talon's words of advice went well heeded. When Cal re-advanced, he came with a re-energized serenity. He was a quick learner, and that was a skill considered very valuable among padawans. While the apprentice's strikes were not quite on par with the Jedi Master's level of mastery, Talon could sense Cal's comfort and ease in the Form. He had reached that one intangible level where he was truly relying on the Force- where he was ”˜in the zone'. He had achieved balance. That was a critical asset in a real life combat situation, and it was the one place where Talon truly felt at home”¦ that indistinct longing for action and adventure buried deep underneath years of Jedi calming exercises and meditation techniques. It was perhaps not the standard ”˜Jedi ideal', but it was where Talon served best.

 

To add to his building momentum, Talon's padawan gave Talon a little taste of his own medicine. Just when the smallest of breaches opened in Talon's defenses, Cal unleashed a Force wave in similar proportions to Talon's own. The Jedi Master's danger-sense peaked in just the previous instant. Calling upon an ancient and rarely-used absorption technique, Talon was able to absorb the slightest bit of energy from the attack. Unfortunately, he was just too little too late, and the rest of the blast caught him straight in the chest, and was enough to send him sliding on his feet several meters backwards. When Talon finally skidded to a stop, he raised his hand.

 

”œGood. You adapt quickly. You will find this to be a very helpful trait.”

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

"It shouldn't take as long as it would to train a regular hopeful, since he's a son of Tzeentch, I've sensed that he already has a handle on how to use the Force. I was just joking about messing with him, he's a son of Chaos, and I would imagine his morals aren't the same as ours... if he has any at all. I won't be far away, though."

[Rajah]

'A son of chaos?' Rajah wondered. Though curious she didn't bother to ask what that meant.

 

"I wouldn't have bothered bothering him anyway. You're the only Jedi I have an interest in messing with." She whispered. "Too bad you're too busy to mess with at the moment."

 

She pulled away from Hou-Jo and motioned with a gallant wave of her hand towards Amon.

 

"You're trainee awaits. Have fun, boys."

 

Rajah left and strolled a short distance away. She took a seat. From behind dark sunglasses she stared sullenly at the group of men.

[Psyche]

Psyche took a deep breath and gave a short bow.

 

"Thank you, Master."

 

She left in search of a cafeteria. Finding one, she sat alone at a table, not knowing anyone else in the room and wolfed down her food. Then she wandered around, looking for somewhere to crash. Finally she asked some being for help, who directed her to where empty rooms could be found. Psyche hit the refresher, washing off the day's dirt, sweat, and grime. After drying off, Psyche went directly to bed and fell asleep.

[Amon Saulot]

::Amon faced the steep incline and considered his options. He could easily bound up on wings of fire, or alter this realm until the wall was like a single step up, but he was not here to flaunt his heritage. Besides, it may be unwise to display such power openly. Amon cracked his knuckles and began the laborious ascent to the top, breathing deep the air to maintain his energy. The incline was intense, and Amon's mortal frame sweated and burned as he climbed. At last he reached the lip of the plateau and pulled himself over. Catching his breath, he jogged over to the man named Hou Jo Poleb.::

[Cal Regium]

Cal disengaged his lightsaber and bowed with the deepest of respects for his new master, Talon. He watched Talon leave the training room and thought, What an interesting person! How did I get lucky enough to stumble upon him right when I was in need of a new master?

 

With a smile of satisfaction on his face Cal left the training room and went towards the dormitories. It took him a while to find a room of his own, but after some happy hunting Cal came across a room with a lovely terrace that extended outside the building. It would be a great place to meditate.

 

The padawan washed up in the refresher and put on a pair of loose fitting pants. Shirtless, Cal went out onto the terrace and took in the serene beauty of Harruun Kal. He loved nature, the greenery, and the overwhelming sense of life that it gave him. It was a calming sensation. He was at peace here. The memories of his visions had all but drifted out of his mind. Cal couldn't have been happier.

 

He sat down and crossed his legs. He would spend some time meditating before he went to bed. He closed his eyes on the dimly lit forest and opened them to the Force. He cleared his mind of all thoughts and allowed the Force to guide his thoughts. Very slowly Cal's lightsaber, which was sitting on the ground next to him, began to hover slightly above the ground. He could feel the Force around him, emitting its power from all living things. With his eyes closed Cal felt as if he could see.

 

Cal lost track of time while in this deep state of meditation, but when he finally opened his eyes it was dark, and the stars were twinkling down upon him. His lightsaber made a clanging noise as it struck the ground. Cal smiled, content with the way his day had ended. He picked up his weapon and went in to get a good night of sleep...

[Nom Anor's avenger]

A small corner within the Jedi base began to ring with life as a particular room filled with smoke. Amid the ominous shrine of evaporated water stepped a newly restored Jedi Master. His lightsabers and close were there waiting as if they served no greater purpose than to serve their master. After dressing and throwing on some old tunics, Nom made his way through the base. The rich atmosphere of Haruun Kal seemed to fill him with new life quite seperate from the functions of the clone chamber, It was time to locate a new apprentice...

[Talon]

Talon's walk back to the room was quiet and uneventful. Talon's mind, however, was stuck somewhere in fast-forward. The Jedi Master was quite pleased with the performance of his padawan. Unfortunately, most of Talon's own training was part of a forgotten past. He remembered an academy, and he remembered certain people, but he could not remember the ”˜curriculum' of his training. In this regard, he was on his own. Yet, Talon was not daunted by the task. He had semi trained several other apprentices before, and he understood the responsibilities of instilling the Jedi philosophies in another, so he was quite confident.

 

It was not long before Talon made it back to his own room, and he was delighted to find his trusty R2 unit there waiting for him. The pair had been through too much, yet the droid seemed to share Talon's own fearlessness and longing for adventure. Perhaps Talon just had that affect on others”¦

 

The droid piped a welcome. Of course, there was no way Talon could tell exactly what the astromech was saying, but he had become so accustomed to the beeps and boops that usually he had a pretty good idea. ”œNo thank you, Zee. I'm worn out. I'll probably just catch some z's.”

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo walked over to Rajah and gave her a kiss. "We'll be outside." Hou-Jo went outside of the temple and used the Force to levitate toward the top of the plateau. He occasionally grabbed a protruding rock or hand hold to pull himself up a little bit faster before finally reaching the top. Amon jogged over to him soon after.

 

"All right. I want to see how much of the Force you can control and how well. As you can see there are several rocks up here. I want you to arrange the rocks to make a model of the temple. Think you can do that?"

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp noted that Nom was up and about but other than that brief note nothing really disturbed his mediations that he had been submerge in until he figured he had master the two arts he had been trying to practice.

 

Standing up he had streched. He wasn't sure how long he had been practicing but it was always good to regardless.

 

He awaited his padawan as he walked toward his ship.

[Rajah]

Through eyes, slightly narrowed, Rajah watched Hou-Jo leave.

 

After a few stern seconds a little grin crossed her face. She sent a quick message to Lowe. With that done Rajah meandered deep into the temple. Surely there would be something, somewhere that would hold her intrest until Hou-Jo was done with Mr. Son of a Chaos God.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

A Jedi Knight approached Hou-Jo as Amon prepared for his assigned task. He was shown a holonet feed that aired a few minutes ago, of a lowly Imperial grunt demanding the complete surrender of the Jedi Order in exchange for Kirlocca.

 

"I trust that you brought a device to transmit my own message to the Holonet in response?"

 

The Knight nodded and activated the projector, sending a message to the Holonet...

[Talon]

Talon was awoken in the middle of the night by his trusty astromech. This rarely happened- the droid would only do this when he found something that warranted the Jedi Master's attention. On this particular evening, it was a something being displayed on the holonet. This ”˜something' turned out to be a call of surrender to the Jedi, and it featured a shaven Kirlocca as a hostage. The news did not end there, however, as a message from Hou-Jo followed soon after, announcing that the Jedi Order did not deal with terrorists. Actually, it almost seemed as if Hou-Jo was insulting the guy. Typical.

 

Talon rolled over to the edge of the bed. ”œThanks for showing me, Zee.”

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo turned to face Talon. He knew that he had history with Kirlocca, that they were friends. He could tell that this was important to him. He didn't say anything. He just nodded and turned his attention back to Amon.

[Nom Anor's avenger]

Walking through the halls of the Jedi Temple couldn't help but inspire the Force from within the Jedi Master. Having been killed by the mockery of life that was Hephaestus did little to etch Nom's pride. A human being's life was something he valued and respected even more than the Force itself. Yet his own was ended by something that didn't even wield the smallest shred of humanity. That thought alone seemed to haunt him with each step. It was as if his own beating heart was an ever present reminder of his droid killer. Simply being a Jedi Master was not good enough. He needed to grow and learn even more than he did when he was but a padawan. To vanquish an innocent life was about the worse sin Nom could imagine. Yet through the past few days, he experienced worse. To take a human life without even the notion of its wonder or its majesty was bad enough. To act as a man's dreams, pains, ambitions, thoughts, feelings and even emotions as nothing but pawns in a chess game was a greater crime then simply destroying them. The only way to stop this was to obtain an even greater sense of power and skill with the Force. Nom needed to step deeper than he had ever done before. Yet to do this, he needed isolation.

 

Even though the presence of the lightside exhibited by other Jedi would do well to full his own perceptions and focus, he needed to be by himself. The motivation of silence and isolation was the only way to let his thoughts run wild. And with wild thoughts came the awakening of the subconscious; truth behind any man.

 

With this thought in mind, the Jedi Master retreated to the first vacant craft he could find. It was a freighter roughly the size capable of fitting a group of four comfortably. With precise calculations already within the computer, Nom left the planet, the faint echo of his Force signature clinging to the Jedi within.

[Psyche]

Psyche opened her eyes in the dimly lit room. She rolled into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes and thought, Ok, naptime's over. She grabbed her hooded robe from the end of the bed and put it on as she walked out of the room. She felt very refreshed, and headed back to the training room where she had left her Master, until realization hit her as if she had just walked into a bantha that had been standing in front of her the whole time.

 

What if he went somewhere else?

 

Before she had become a student of the Jedi, she would have probably panicked, but now she knew there was an easier way to locate Scorp. Getting out of the middle of the corridor so she wouldn't be in the way, she closed her eyes, feeling the Force all around her. Psyche concentrated, looking for Master Scorp, remembering what he had felt like during training. Locating him came with a triumphant half-grin, and she walked off to where he was. Cheerful, Psyche came up behind him and said, "Hey there!"

[Talon]

Talon nodded in return, and turned back to the temple. He found his trusty droid right where he had left him, and the pair started back through the base.

 

”œZee, I need you to get to the ship and get it ready for me. I need to go to our quarters and get a few things, but I'll meet you there.”

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp turned and looked at his padawan.

 

"Hmm had a nice nap eh. So while you wee sleeping I did some thinking and decided to pose the question to you.

 

What would be your preferred choice. WOuld you rather freeze half to death in dangerous trianing exerisces as well as a little real world experience or would you rather roast and bake inside of your own skin while training and getting a bit of real world experience?"

 

He crossed his arms and waited.