Jedi Padawan Quest (Star Wars)
- Thread starter The Laurent
- Start date
King Arthur
The Once and Future King
The thread currently has the thinking of "it's most likely going to die and we don't think we can stop it so it doesn't really matter if the Jedi Order is flawed or not, so let's just do the best we can to save the lives we can."
At least, as far as I can tell that's the general consensus.
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- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan People
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Warning! The vote closes
!
Final calls for arguments, bandwagons, and memes.
Final calls for arguments, bandwagons, and memes.
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PsyFarrow
Verified Necrodancer
- Location
- Space
Vote closed?
Assembler
Rocking the life
He set a timer. It will expire 8 minutes from when I post this.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
And closed!
Vote Tally : Jedi Initiate Quest (Star Wars) | Page 17 | Sufficient Velocity [Posts: 413-529]
##### NetTally 1.9.9
[X] Plan Misfits
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Cho Okbia
-[X][Neutral] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy
No. of Votes: 19
[X] Plan Team Fighting Friends
-[X][Negative] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Neutral] Victor Moreno
-[X][Neutral] Jayne
-[X][Positive] Elize
-[X][Positive] Hanna Ignes
No. of Votes: 6
[X] Plan People
-[X][POSITIVE] Arka Ky'tan
-[X][POSITIVE] Zig Nal
-[X][NEUTRAL] Marruc
-[X][NEUTRAL] Yarua
-[X][NEGATIVE] Giska Trey'lis
No. of Votes: 6
[X] Plan Master Bell
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy
-[X][Neutral] Amada Lakhasa
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Whie Malreaux
No. of Votes: 3
[X] Plan Paladin
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Cho Okbia
-[X][Neutral] Amada Lakhasa
-[X][Positive] Elize
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
No. of Votes: 2
[X] Plan Relationships
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Tamia Ayres
-[X][Neutral] Elize
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Jayne
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan I Have No Idea What To Call This
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Amada Lakhasa
-[X][Neutral] Jayne
-[X][Neutral] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan Wayfinder
-[X][NEGATIVE] Jana Almira
-[X][NEUTRAL] Cho Okbia
-[X][NEUTRAL] Jayne
-[X][POSITIVE] Katarina Lann
-[X][POSITIVE] Arka Ky'tan
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan People
-[X][POSITIVE] Arka Ky'tan
-[X][POSITIVE] Zig Nal
-[X][NEUTRAL] Marruc
-[X][NEUTRAL] Yarua
-[X][NEGATIVE] Giska Trey'lis
-[X][NEGATIVE] Giska Trey'lis
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan Team Fighting Friends
-[X][Negative] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Neutral] Victor Moreno
-[X][Neutral] Jayne
-[X][Positive] Elize
-[X][Positive] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Positive] Hanna Ignes
No. of Votes: 1
Total No. of Voters: 41
##### NetTally 1.9.9
[X] Plan Misfits
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Cho Okbia
-[X][Neutral] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy
No. of Votes: 19
[X] Plan Team Fighting Friends
-[X][Negative] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Neutral] Victor Moreno
-[X][Neutral] Jayne
-[X][Positive] Elize
-[X][Positive] Hanna Ignes
No. of Votes: 6
[X] Plan People
-[X][POSITIVE] Arka Ky'tan
-[X][POSITIVE] Zig Nal
-[X][NEUTRAL] Marruc
-[X][NEUTRAL] Yarua
-[X][NEGATIVE] Giska Trey'lis
No. of Votes: 6
[X] Plan Master Bell
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy
-[X][Neutral] Amada Lakhasa
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Whie Malreaux
No. of Votes: 3
[X] Plan Paladin
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Cho Okbia
-[X][Neutral] Amada Lakhasa
-[X][Positive] Elize
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
No. of Votes: 2
[X] Plan Relationships
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Neutral] Tamia Ayres
-[X][Neutral] Elize
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Jayne
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan I Have No Idea What To Call This
-[X][Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[X][Positive] Amada Lakhasa
-[X][Neutral] Jayne
-[X][Neutral] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Negative] Hanna Ignes
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan Wayfinder
-[X][NEGATIVE] Jana Almira
-[X][NEUTRAL] Cho Okbia
-[X][NEUTRAL] Jayne
-[X][POSITIVE] Katarina Lann
-[X][POSITIVE] Arka Ky'tan
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan People
-[X][POSITIVE] Arka Ky'tan
-[X][POSITIVE] Zig Nal
-[X][NEUTRAL] Marruc
-[X][NEUTRAL] Yarua
-[X][NEGATIVE] Giska Trey'lis
-[X][NEGATIVE] Giska Trey'lis
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Plan Team Fighting Friends
-[X][Negative] Anakin Skywalker
-[X][Neutral] Victor Moreno
-[X][Neutral] Jayne
-[X][Positive] Elize
-[X][Positive] Hanna Ignes
-[X][Positive] Hanna Ignes
No. of Votes: 1
Total No. of Voters: 41
- Location
- United States of America
To the surprise of absolutely no one Anakin has taken one of the relationships slots. At least we made friends with the healer and fellow former slave.
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Corvus Black
The Inestimable
- Location
- England
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
[More sad dooting]
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Okay, so update tomorrow!
III: Peaces
- Pronouns
- They/Them
III: Peaces
Despite all that had happened, despite all that would happen--and it didn't take a gift of prophecy to know that the war would be long and bitter--life continued in the Temple with, at first, only moderate shifts.
It was the way one boiled some animals, so that they never knew they were truly dying: she didn't really see things changing until she looked up and realized they were moving in a certain direction.
First off, there were increasingly fewer teachers, as more and more Masters left. That meant that older Masters, who had expected to spend their last years contemplating the Force, were all but dragged out to teach classes.
Master Jin'sh was replaced by an old, blind Miralukian Jedi Master, Master Deta, who was sharp-tongued and clearly overwhelmed with how many classes she had to take, and yet didn't seem to want to show it to others. Nima could understand this.
Nima could understand many things. This was a war, and a tough one, and it was hard not to spend all your time trying to understand one suffering person after another. In a way, she was glad she wasn't old enough to be fighting in it. Not just because she was only somewhat better as a saber-fighter than her new friend Wessen, though that helped. But because the suffering would have felt overwhelming.
Still, she tried to focus on the here and now. She ate lunch with Wessen every now and then, and talked about nothing much.
She was still trying to lure the Quarren out, talk to her more and figure out the roots of her problems. But Nima wasn't Yoda. Nor had Wessen talked to Yoda: she would have noticed of the other girl had. There was a way about most people who had a long talk with Yoda, and besides which, Aydan wouldn't be strutting around eyeing everyone for targets, for victims, if he'd been rebuked.
If he chose anyone, then Nima didn't see it. But she wondered sometimes, at what she saw, and what she didn't. At what she might have missed. It was a large Temple.
It was a larger war.
Jedi Knight Hafan Szzist, apparently a very good fighter pilot and part of the navy's push against separatist targets, had been shot down and killed in action.
Similarly, Padawan Verri Hex had died during ground fighting in Falleen. The whole planet had been apparently taken, and the king deposed, and so for at least the moment it was officially Separatist. Those nobles that were still there had no reason to question the Confederate cause when there were droids with blasters pointed at the back of their heads, or so someone gruffly remarked.
There were a few other deaths, and then more than a few injuries.
Nima only really knew one of the people, and even then not truly. But Anakin Skywalker had apparently been burnt and bruised up after he'd been captured during some sort of enemy action. The reports, and the rumors that she was relying on to learn all this didn't explain how, but her guess was that it was in some bold, heroic, and foolish way. She knew him… sort of. She'd only really met him once, but his presence in the Force, and passing glimpses since then, made it so that she at least lingered a second more on his injuries than the others, reading them off the gossip sheets that went around.
The gossip sheets were for when there just wasn't time to spread things around orally. The Temple was a hive of gossip, the kind of place where people formed chains of rumors here and there and everywhere. Things got around, which was probably how Anakin had first found her, in their one real meeting...
Three years before, Nima Tyruti was smaller, a little less certain, and practicing her saber-work. She'd been losing to a lot of people lately, more than she normally did. So she was trying to improve, and the way she was practicing was standing straight and tall and running through a few basic attacks, again and again. It was simple stuff, in a simple, at that moment deserted, side room.
But she wasn't startled when someone opened the door, though their presence in the Force was almost overwhelming. It was a human Padawan, his status evident from his braid, dressed in the same sort of Jedi robes that Nima was wearing.
His hair was tousled, but besides that he seemed just like any other human as he walked forward, though with a little more swagger than the average Padawan. And a somewhat stronger presence in the force, as well.
"Your stance is wrong," he said abruptly, as he approached.
"What?" Nima asked.
Her lightsaber was humming. It was just her practice saber, but she tried to let it be an extension of herself… to mixed effects.
"If you're attacking all out, then it needs to be more mobile. If you're defending like a wall, then it needs to be spread a little more." He aped what he was talking about, his legs spread out slightly farther than hers were, relatively.
"Oh," Nima said. "Thank you, Padawan…"
"Skywalker," he said.
Oh, she'd heard of Anakin Skywalker. In an indirect sort of way.
"Thank you, Mr. Skywalker." She bowed slightly, politely.
He didn't leave, which meant he had some other reason, but she knew that he'd tell her when he was ready.
"I've seen you around Jordyan Bell, haven't I? Last week? But I was being dragged away by Obi-Wan--"
"Your Master?" Nima guessed.
Anakin nodded. "So, do you know him?"
"Yes, I do."
"You were... a slave, right?" Anakin asked. "I wanted to talk to him. Know where he is?"
"I am," Nima said. "Why does it matter? And I think I know. May I ask why you want to talk to him?"
"I'm one too," Anakin said. "I wanted to talk to him about that. Ask why he hadn't ever gone to Tatooine." He sounded a little annoyed though, as if the thought--
"A-are you mad that he didn't save you?" Nima asked. Tatooine must be where he was from. She vaguely remembered rumors of the deceased Master Qui-Gon Jinn fighting a supposed Sith on… Tatooine. Right.
"He's for freeing slaves," Anakin said, impatiently, as if that explained his annoyance and grievances.
"It's a wide galaxy, Mr. Skywalker," Nima said, trying to stifle her harsher words, though his skill with the Force was great enough that perhaps he knew. "He tries to save everyone… he doesn't always succeed."
"He should be able to save everyone," Anakin said. "I should have--"
Anakin cut himself off with a wave of his hand, his annoyance at his own tongue so obvious that it didn't take the Force to know he'd said too much and felt too strongly in front of her. Something was on his mind, something far deeper than her, and she was just the first person to see it.
"Maybe I'll do it someday," Anakin said.
"Free the slaves of Tatooine?"
"Yes. So where is Master Bell?" Anakin asked, impatiently.
"This time? He'd probably be taking tea in the North Cafe, I think?"
"Thanks," Anakin said, with a wave. Then, just before he left her to her saber practice, he asked, "Hey, what's your name?"
"Nima Tyruti."
"Right," Anakin said. "See ya."
And then he slipped away, and perhaps he never thought anything more of it.
She wondered, later, if he'd ever got to go back to Tatooine.
******
"And, get this. The Chancellor says, 'Ultimately, the Separatists threaten the life of every sentient in the Republic. They respect no rights, they are as much machine as men, for that is how they wage war, so why trust how they will wage peace? Thus if it is necessary to carefully and with prudence temporarily limit some small indulgences towards the disloyal, then I see no problems.'" When Cho said this, she leaned in far enough that Nima could track only one of her two eyes.
She was a Mon Calamari, an aquatic species from Dac, her skin red, her eyes big and wide. Her mouth was wide, and it was certainly moving quite fast. Cho wasn't quite a friend, because a friend wasn't someone you got into weeks long arguments with. When they were close, they were close, and when they weren't getting along for whatever reason, they kept away from each other.
But Cho Okbia always had interesting things to say.
"Well… it seems like that's going a bit far, isn't it?" Nima asked, as she glanced down at the table in the cafe. It was a comfortable talk, right then, though it was starting to get towards time to head to their rooms to relax.
Nima sipped her tea.
"Of course it is. Property can't be seized just for disloyal belief. Certain acts of treason or wartime sabotage, yes? But this is only going to cause trouble."
A law was currently winding its way through the Galactic Senate which allowed mandatory loyalty oaths for almost all residents of a captured Separatist planet, and allowed, if a person refused to take an oath and showed even the least hint of anti-Republic thought, to have their property confiscated.
It was… controversial, and yet the article that Cho was reading from, the datapad held in one of her webbed hands, seemed to indicate that it was at least being seriously considered.
"Who will surrender with such provisions. Traitors to the Republic are horrible, but winning in this manner is as good as losing," Cho said. "And it's not necessary. I don't see how the Senate could fail to correct this, perhaps adding in provisos. Make it about disloyal action, not thought. There's a large contingent that won't allow something like this to happen."
Nima nodded, which is when someone gave a sort of coughing laugh. It was Hannah, striding up to them. She had blue-green hair--apparently natural, some sort of variety of human--kept longer than usual, and dark-eyed and smirking, with hoop earrings in her ears that her father had given her as a sort of memento of her mother. Nima only knew this because Hannah had told it to her once, when she'd gotten angry at Nima.
That happened a lot. They… weren't quite enemies. Precisely. They were both Jedi, after all. But even more than Aydan, Nima just didn't like Hannah.
"It'll pass. It'll inevitably pass. And it's naivete like this that shows why the Jedi are where they are. Take it from me," Hannah said, leaning on the table. "Someone who's Republic born and--"
"We're all Republic born," Cho said, her tone cool enough to almost lower the tone of the room.
"Well, sure. But I'm the daughter of a Senator. From Coruscant. The Jedi really need to learn how to play the game, if you want to do your little… reforms. You know, the ones you won't shut up about?"
"I know that politics can sometimes be dirty," Cho said, with a sigh, staring at Hannah with both eyes. "But I know there are--"
"Plenty of Senators who are greedy. C'mon, think about it. The Clones aren't going to be spending their time doing something like that. They're more important than that. And too honest, at that. So it'll be down to bureaucrats. Planetary figures. Appointees. And who appoints them? The bureaucracy, run by, who?"
"The Chancellor and the Senate both," Cho said, reluctantly.
"Exactly! Use your brain," Hannah said with a smirk. "He'll promise cushy jobs and fingers in that pie to anyone who plays along. That's the way the Senate works. All of that money seized, well, who will know if some of it is siphoned off?"
"The Jedi will know," Nima insisted.
"While they're in the middle of a war? They can do some, and perhaps a few examples will be caught. If I were the Chancellor I'd put nothing in writing and hope the Jedi caught all my enemies being corrupt hypocrites," Hannah said. "But I'm not. More the pity."
"You'd run the Republic into the ground," Cho said. "Chancellor Palpatine is the best leader we've had in some time… even if he seems too willing to take drastic measures."
"Yeah, and like a Mon…" Hannah paused, flushing. "I shouldn't have said that," she added, as quickly as she'd trailed off. Even she acknowledged that there were limits she sometimes passed. She really did feel guilty, and she'd just seen an opportunity to show off.
Perhaps, like Aydan, she even convinced herself that her words were somehow teaching people a lesson in reality.
"You shouldn't have," Nima said, calmly.
"Now go--" Cho began.
Nima glanced over at her. "Please, apologize. And if it is true that some will be bribed, then something should be done."
"It… should. The Jedi should know people who can play the game. They can't stand aloof and yet feel responsible for cleaning up every single one of the Republic's messes," Hannah said.
"The Republic has brought freedom to countless people," Cho said.
"So have the Jedi," Hannah retorted, glancing over at Nima. "Think about that. I don't know what to do either, but this? It's nonsense."
"Hannah," Nima said, trying to see a way to connect with her. There was something there. Something deeper than just superiority, though it was buried and small.
"Hannah, just go away and stop trying to help," Cho said. "Please." She took a breath. "We're trying to look through the news."
"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted," Hannah said. She turned on her heels and marched off… to the cafe worker to order a tea to go.
"What?" Cho asked, when Nima looked at her. She blinked a little lazily. "She just came up and started on Coruscanti nonsense."
"Maybe." After a moment of thinking, Nima added, "Yes. So, what was the other news? You mentioned there was a bill about…"
"Taxes, actually. So you see, there's…"
********
The war reached its tendrils everywhere, and when Nima could finally visit her friend Ayguin, she saw yet another sign of what the war was going to do.
Ayguin was a human who helped out in the Halls of Healing. Even though she was an initiate, it was said she had a gift. It wasn't enough to be one of the Jedi performing surgeries or overseeing cases, but she did change bed sheets, help out when exhaustion set in for the Healers, and otherwise sacrifice a lot of her time and energy quite willingly.
It was something Nima admired, even if the other girl was sometimes reserved, except with patients. She always opened up a little more around them. But even all of those years after having been freed from slavery, she still seemed unable to quite open up around most people.
But Nima was one of those people. So she headed down, remembering the way it'd looked like almost two months ago, when every bed was filled and more and the healers exhausted themselves trying to fight the tide.
Compared to that, these halls were empty. But what that merely meant was that two-thirds of the crisp white-grey beds in the grey rooms were filled as she passed them, glancing at the symbols on the walls. There were Surgery wards, there were areas with the famous healing crystals, there was an area for psychological counseling… it just didn't end.
Ayguin wouldn't be in the surgery, no, instead she'd be… ah, there was a room with an open door.
"I need to get back into the fight," a middle-aged man said. He was a Cathar, slightly stout, and clearly a bit out of practice with fighting, though his mane was thick and bristling. His chart said that his name was Juhir Lim, and that he was a Jedi Knight who'd taken rather severe internal and external injuries. "Where's Master Iskina? I'm sure she'd agree that I need to be bumped up the priority list." It spoke to his bravery that he wanted to get back into it.
Ayguin had nut-brown hair, and soft brown eyes, looking very small indeed in her robes as she said. "I'll ask her, but I think you need at least another week."
Juhir let out a sigh. "Apologies. But."
"You've fought bravely. You couldn't have known that the Separatists would be--"
"As they are?" he asked, with a snort. His voice was deep, even booming. "I've been working for peace for so long, but now I see what that gets us. As soon as I'm up and ready I'm going to start training again. I've let my saber-work go rusty," he added. He loomed over her.
"I… can't say what you should do," Ayguin said. "And… oh!"
Nima stepped forward, closing the door behind her. "I hope you don't mind me intruding, sir."
"It's no problem. Are you this girl's friend?"
"I am," Nima said. "Were you… ambushed during the Itix System talks?" A system that had joined the Separatists at the start of the crisis, but had been backing out once it realized that the Separatists were asking just as much from them as the Republic had asked.
Except it was a trap. Or, if not a trap, then it'd been made into one, and now there was fighting over Xita, and the Ganlons were stuck in the middle.
"Yes. I was in charge of them. It was going well, and then separatists showed up, in force. Led by some sort of… Force-sensitive. I could feel them, their darkness. It was vibrant, bright like a knife." He shuddered. "But at first the clones held out. We took out the droids five-on-one. The clones had just been there for…"
Nima leaned in, to indicate she was listening.
"Just in case, I guess. Then that dark-sider and a pack of droids forced their way through towards two of the entrances on the orbital station. Sandwiching us. Ganlons like space," he explained. "The atmosphere of their world means they have had orbital colonies for a while, since it can't support too much, but there are pockets of habitability and their language is interesting in that…" he shook his head.
Nima sort of gave him a slight tug in the Force, a sort of 'go on' gesture.
"It's an interesting language. But what we need is fighters now, not linguists. And the droids slaughtered even civilians. The better to take over. I fought them, and even beat some of them. But there were always more droids, and then we had to retreat. I can't remember what happened next. What remained of the Clones escaped, if I'd stayed I'd have died, before even meeting whoever was leading the attack. But there are those who embrace the Darkness fighting for the Separatist forces besides Dooku. I'm sure of that now. And that means we need to fight back."
Ayguin nodded, as he sank back, apparently exhausted from his words, and the injuries still not yet fully healed.
"And you shall. Just… give it time, you know?" Nima asked.
"In the fullness of time do all things come," Juhin said, with a soft smile, quoting some piece of philosophy.
*******
"Thanks for talking to him, he was getting very worked up," Ayguin said, as she poured a cup of caf. This was one of the few areas where a Jedi could find a caf machine, actually. The Temple overwhelmingly preferred tea, though one could make their own caf if they wanted. Ayguin, though, drank the disgusting brown liquid as if it were a tenet of her religion.
It was a soothing area. One thing about the Hall of Healing was that the skylights and the pink crystal pillars meant that for all that one could look at some parts and see just any hospital, other elements felt unique. Grey walls, but plenty of light. Plenty of life. Even small garden areas.
"It was nothing."
"Not to me, it wasn't. You're very good at this. You know, you could try to begin learning around here. Helping out, perhaps working on healing with the Force."
"I'm no healer," Nima said.
"It's not hard to learn," Ayguin said. "It just comes to you naturally if you care enough and are dedicated and smart. You're all of that."
Nima flushed slightly at the compliment. "You say that, but that's because that's your area of expertise," Nima said. "Have you learned more lately?"
Force Healing was difficult, often time-consuming to learn, and it wasn't some perfect fix to all problems. But it could close wounds that only bacta and time could, and it could do it even in the middle of a horrific battlefield.
It could do more, too, and the Force itself could guide a healer in the art of surgery without even using healing techniques.
"Yes. I'm working on battlefield injuries. I need to figure out how to set the wounds more efficiently. I take too long. Compassion is good, but--"
"I can't imagine having to be around all that blood," Nima said.
"You get used to it." Ayguin drank her coffee. "I can't imagine being on a battlefield, where you'd be sure to lose someone in surgery or work. We don't… lose Jedi here often. If they get here, they live. Even during this war, that seems to be so most of the time so far. Except for the older Jedi."
"Ah," Nima said, quietly. "Are you holding up?"
"I… am." Ayguin sipped her coffee.
"What is it?"
"I don't want to be rude," Ayguin said, her voice small. She was beginning to retreat, which meant that she had something important to say.
"Don't worry about that."
"Is there any way you could… check up on someone for me?"
"Who?"
"Tallisibeth."
Nima frowned, "Oh, Scout."
"I… know Offee. She's a Mirialan, a Padawan, but very skilled." Ayguin hesitated before adding, "She knows Ahsoka, one of Scout's closer friends. And she's drifted away from everyone except Ahsoka since her Master died."
"Oh."
Nima hadn't even known: there were so many deaths that the name had just slipped by. But now that she thought on it, and the list. Yes. She'd been a Padawan, and now she was an Initiate again. Or, was that how it worked? But she'd lost someone, someone who'd believed in her.
Nima felt it like a punch in her gut, her ignorance, the fact that she hadn't helped out.
"This is why… I hesitated."
"Why?"
"That look on your face. You want to help her. You want to help everyone."
"Is that wrong?"
Ayguin shook her hands. "No. Just." She flushed. "It's a cruel galaxy, isn't it? That's what…"
"Has Aydan been talking to you?"
"He… did. B-but I told him that Healers helped the war too and he just nodded and glared at me o-once more and--"
Ayguin only stuttered like that when she was really stressed.
"If he ever tries anything again. Tell me. And Yoda. And everyone," Nima said.
"I can. Will you… talk to Scout?"
"I'll see what I can do. Now, can you tell me, does this place serve tea too, and are you going to be on break in the next hour?"
"N-no."
"Then I'll go with you if you need anyone to help you care for the patients."
It was just menial work, really. Sometimes gross, even, for sentients in a hospital were far from at their best.
But it was time with her friend, and it helped the galaxy in some small way. So she didn't begrudge it.
*******
Finding Scout was harder than it seemed. She moved around all the time, and her schedule seemed even more packed than the average Initiate's. It was a full week of trying to figure her out before Nima was able to track her down, no thanks to her own rather full schedule.
The secret was that at least some of Scout's Force-based classes were rather younger than her age. Combine that with taking far too many electives and one got a schedule that was hard to work out.
But finally, panting, Nima managed to make it from her late afternoon class to the Jade training room. The kids were pouring out of it, at all ages, actually, and then the Master after that. But not Scout.
Actually, not everyone at all.
As Nima watched, curious, the flood died too quickly, and half of those who left returned in just a minute.
She stepped towards the door and opened it to reveal just another training room, really. Green walls, hard tiles, but with some padding for falls, and almost two-dozen Initiates and even a few Padawans, all running through what seemed to be additional lightsaber drills.
Getting extra practice.
Nima expected to find Scout among them, but instead she was leaning against a corner, almost invisible--though not in the Force--and watching it all as if she were about to raise up a holocam and record everything. There was an intentness on her face, framed by her red hair. This was someone who knew what she was doing.
Whatever that was.
Nima approached, drawing a little more attention than Scout had, but the people glancing her way soon had to dodge backswings from their opponents, and the hum of lightsabers and the sound of them meeting drowned out Nima's footsteps well enough. At least, it did for the participants.
"Hey," Nima said.
"Oh, hey," Scout said. The girl frowned, and Nima could see the calculation in her eyes. "If you want to join, they'd probably have you. They're older, but they're alright."
Nima processed that. "Then why don't you join in?"
"I do, sometimes. Nima Tyruti, right?" Scout asked, frowning a little as if she were calling up information on a notecard. Though how she knew her name, well. It was a talent, most likely. Even if it was a subtle one.
"Yes," Nima said.
"I do sometimes. But sometimes it's best to watch. Try to take in details, so you can know how someone fights."
"You do that a lot, watching people," Nima said.
"Sometimes I pace too," Scout said, with a brief flash of a smile, though there was something very brittle about it. "What brings you here?"
The training Initiates were a little older than Nima, and it was odd how it worked. Sometimes a single month or two could put two Younglings on completely different paths, rarely to ever see each other. She vaguely recalled some of them: A Chagrian named Lema, a Mon Cal named Gumbrack, an older Wookie called Charukka, almost fourteen and apparently on the verge of being picked up as a Padawan, albeit almost too late.
"Well, see." Nima frowned. "I know Ayguin."
"The girl who works in the Halls of Healing?" Scout said.
"Yes. And she knows Offee, who knows Ahsoka Tano…"
"Who knows me. It's like a game of holo-phone," Scout said with a teasing smile. "So, one of them was worried? It couldn't have been Ahsoka, she's too straightforward. She'd just tell me."
"I know that it's--"
"Hard?" Scout said.
Nima took a moment to try to center herself.
"You don't need to worry about me," Scout said. "I just need to… train harder."
"And watch people?" Nima said.
"It tells you a lot about how they fight," Scout said.
Nima had a certain hunch. Maybe it was in the Force, or maybe it was just intuition. But she followed that intuition. She let herself sink deep into that question, and she saw what Scout feared. It wasn't just not being good enough. Nor was the sorrow just because a person she'd cared for, Master Kim, had died.
It was that, but it was more. It was that she hadn't truly mourned, hadn't truly relaxed. She'd been working herself to the bone, thinking every moment, planning every moment, but what she did didn't matter. Or she felt like it didn't. Nima remembered the words of various fellow students. In every class except linguistics and those requiring the Force--where she was paired with people years younger--she was at the top or near the top. If Masters chose Padawans based on their Astrophysics scores, then Scout would never have to worry about becoming a Padawan again.
But they didn't. So what did it matter if she was at the top of every class? She wanted to be a Jedi, with a fierce will that was almost startling. She wasn't going to quit, she didn't want to go to AgriCorp, but if given a choice between leaving the Order entirely and that, that's what she'd choose.
She had the kind of skills that probably meant that she could make any number of lives, do any number of things: but she'd only ever wanted one thing, wanted it so fiercely that Nima had to admire it.
"Oh? It does?"
"For one, there's the way you can feel emotions," Scout said. "You get this distant look on your face."
"You've watched me?"
"In fights, you sometimes rely on that too much. Or maybe not enough. You're quick, and your slashes are graceful, but there's a hastiness to your attacks. You don't commit. Your stance is usually solid, but, hrm. You don't always know what to do next, even when you get in a good attack. Your grip's a bit weak too, if someone really pressed hard and used their strength, then what would you do?"
Nima blinked, impressed, "Ah. You're…"
"I just watch things," Scout said, dismissing her own talents.
She was proud, but it was a different, contrary sort of pride. "We should study together sometime. After all, teamwork matters, right? In the war, you're going to be a Padawan, and you're going to lead clones, right?"
"Yes," Scout said. She couldn't deny, at least out loud, that she'd eventually become a Padawan.
"So, we could study together? Just when we have time. I've heard you're top of the class in Astronavigation, and Math. And you're pretty strong. What kinds of exercises do you do?"
"They're not… I." Scout said. "I don't think it's--"
"There's a war on. If I don't know how to Astronavigate, well." Nima shrugged, smiling a little. "And I know languages, right?"
"Well, that's what everyone says," Scout added.
Nima wasn't impossibly skilled, but all Jedi picked up other languages easily, and the fact that she'd basically learned three languages by the time she was five helped a lot, and meant that she picked up further languages fast.
"Thanks," Nima said. "So what do you say?"
"We could do that," Scout said.
"You have a gift for noticing these things," Nima said.
"And you notice emotions," Scout added, clapping Nima on the shoulder.
"Sometimes, yes."
And sometimes she just missed things, Nima thought. She could be better. She could also use some training, for that matter.
The war was going to come.
No, that was wrong. The war was already here.
As she watched the Initiates training, she more fully understood that the lightsaber was a weapon that could and would kill and hurt. There was a war in this very room, a practice war, and one day they could be swinging those lightsabers through droids, and even people. That'd always been true, but it'd been a thing you tried to ignore. Downplay. They'd have to fight, eventually, if the war dragged on for much longer, and they could face that moment where peace lost and war won, just as Juhir. There were Juhirs that didn't survive.
She couldn't be one of them.
Though what that meant was… unclear.
So, over the next while, as the war rages on, what does Nima do? (Choose 2)
[] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[] Ayguin is always so busy at the Halls of Healing. Perhaps Nima could be more company, and perhaps learn a little basic first-aid or the like. Even if she's not going to be a healer.
[] Nima could perhaps spend a little longer studying how the war is going down. If she's going to be in a war… does that mean she'll be leading battles? Or deciding tactics? What does war even mean? Are there maps to track what's going on in the war?
[] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
[] Nima's not currently taking the Piloting class, but perhaps she could at least spend a little time in the simulators they have set up in the north wing. She knows that there are several Initiates who spend basically all of their free time hanging around there.
[] There's an old room near the library that people often use as a hangout spot. They gossip, they read things downloaded from the Archives--at least those things not restricted to the Archives themselves--and sometimes bring snacks from a nearby cafe. She could spend her time there, unwinding.
[] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
******
A/N: Alright, here we go. No moratorium this time.
[] Plan Misfits
-[] [Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[] [Neutral] Cho Okbia
-[] [Neutral] Anakin Skywalker
-[] [Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[][POSITIVE] Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy
-[] [Negative] Hanna Ignes
-[] [Neutral] Cho Okbia
-[] [Neutral] Anakin Skywalker
-[] [Positive] Ayguin Zemfira
-[][POSITIVE] Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy
Despite all that had happened, despite all that would happen--and it didn't take a gift of prophecy to know that the war would be long and bitter--life continued in the Temple with, at first, only moderate shifts.
It was the way one boiled some animals, so that they never knew they were truly dying: she didn't really see things changing until she looked up and realized they were moving in a certain direction.
First off, there were increasingly fewer teachers, as more and more Masters left. That meant that older Masters, who had expected to spend their last years contemplating the Force, were all but dragged out to teach classes.
Master Jin'sh was replaced by an old, blind Miralukian Jedi Master, Master Deta, who was sharp-tongued and clearly overwhelmed with how many classes she had to take, and yet didn't seem to want to show it to others. Nima could understand this.
Nima could understand many things. This was a war, and a tough one, and it was hard not to spend all your time trying to understand one suffering person after another. In a way, she was glad she wasn't old enough to be fighting in it. Not just because she was only somewhat better as a saber-fighter than her new friend Wessen, though that helped. But because the suffering would have felt overwhelming.
Still, she tried to focus on the here and now. She ate lunch with Wessen every now and then, and talked about nothing much.
She was still trying to lure the Quarren out, talk to her more and figure out the roots of her problems. But Nima wasn't Yoda. Nor had Wessen talked to Yoda: she would have noticed of the other girl had. There was a way about most people who had a long talk with Yoda, and besides which, Aydan wouldn't be strutting around eyeing everyone for targets, for victims, if he'd been rebuked.
If he chose anyone, then Nima didn't see it. But she wondered sometimes, at what she saw, and what she didn't. At what she might have missed. It was a large Temple.
It was a larger war.
Jedi Knight Hafan Szzist, apparently a very good fighter pilot and part of the navy's push against separatist targets, had been shot down and killed in action.
Similarly, Padawan Verri Hex had died during ground fighting in Falleen. The whole planet had been apparently taken, and the king deposed, and so for at least the moment it was officially Separatist. Those nobles that were still there had no reason to question the Confederate cause when there were droids with blasters pointed at the back of their heads, or so someone gruffly remarked.
There were a few other deaths, and then more than a few injuries.
Nima only really knew one of the people, and even then not truly. But Anakin Skywalker had apparently been burnt and bruised up after he'd been captured during some sort of enemy action. The reports, and the rumors that she was relying on to learn all this didn't explain how, but her guess was that it was in some bold, heroic, and foolish way. She knew him… sort of. She'd only really met him once, but his presence in the Force, and passing glimpses since then, made it so that she at least lingered a second more on his injuries than the others, reading them off the gossip sheets that went around.
The gossip sheets were for when there just wasn't time to spread things around orally. The Temple was a hive of gossip, the kind of place where people formed chains of rumors here and there and everywhere. Things got around, which was probably how Anakin had first found her, in their one real meeting...
Three years before, Nima Tyruti was smaller, a little less certain, and practicing her saber-work. She'd been losing to a lot of people lately, more than she normally did. So she was trying to improve, and the way she was practicing was standing straight and tall and running through a few basic attacks, again and again. It was simple stuff, in a simple, at that moment deserted, side room.
But she wasn't startled when someone opened the door, though their presence in the Force was almost overwhelming. It was a human Padawan, his status evident from his braid, dressed in the same sort of Jedi robes that Nima was wearing.
His hair was tousled, but besides that he seemed just like any other human as he walked forward, though with a little more swagger than the average Padawan. And a somewhat stronger presence in the force, as well.
"Your stance is wrong," he said abruptly, as he approached.
"What?" Nima asked.
Her lightsaber was humming. It was just her practice saber, but she tried to let it be an extension of herself… to mixed effects.
"If you're attacking all out, then it needs to be more mobile. If you're defending like a wall, then it needs to be spread a little more." He aped what he was talking about, his legs spread out slightly farther than hers were, relatively.
"Oh," Nima said. "Thank you, Padawan…"
"Skywalker," he said.
Oh, she'd heard of Anakin Skywalker. In an indirect sort of way.
"Thank you, Mr. Skywalker." She bowed slightly, politely.
He didn't leave, which meant he had some other reason, but she knew that he'd tell her when he was ready.
"I've seen you around Jordyan Bell, haven't I? Last week? But I was being dragged away by Obi-Wan--"
"Your Master?" Nima guessed.
Anakin nodded. "So, do you know him?"
"Yes, I do."
"You were... a slave, right?" Anakin asked. "I wanted to talk to him. Know where he is?"
"I am," Nima said. "Why does it matter? And I think I know. May I ask why you want to talk to him?"
"I'm one too," Anakin said. "I wanted to talk to him about that. Ask why he hadn't ever gone to Tatooine." He sounded a little annoyed though, as if the thought--
"A-are you mad that he didn't save you?" Nima asked. Tatooine must be where he was from. She vaguely remembered rumors of the deceased Master Qui-Gon Jinn fighting a supposed Sith on… Tatooine. Right.
"He's for freeing slaves," Anakin said, impatiently, as if that explained his annoyance and grievances.
"It's a wide galaxy, Mr. Skywalker," Nima said, trying to stifle her harsher words, though his skill with the Force was great enough that perhaps he knew. "He tries to save everyone… he doesn't always succeed."
"He should be able to save everyone," Anakin said. "I should have--"
Anakin cut himself off with a wave of his hand, his annoyance at his own tongue so obvious that it didn't take the Force to know he'd said too much and felt too strongly in front of her. Something was on his mind, something far deeper than her, and she was just the first person to see it.
"Maybe I'll do it someday," Anakin said.
"Free the slaves of Tatooine?"
"Yes. So where is Master Bell?" Anakin asked, impatiently.
"This time? He'd probably be taking tea in the North Cafe, I think?"
"Thanks," Anakin said, with a wave. Then, just before he left her to her saber practice, he asked, "Hey, what's your name?"
"Nima Tyruti."
"Right," Anakin said. "See ya."
And then he slipped away, and perhaps he never thought anything more of it.
She wondered, later, if he'd ever got to go back to Tatooine.
******
"And, get this. The Chancellor says, 'Ultimately, the Separatists threaten the life of every sentient in the Republic. They respect no rights, they are as much machine as men, for that is how they wage war, so why trust how they will wage peace? Thus if it is necessary to carefully and with prudence temporarily limit some small indulgences towards the disloyal, then I see no problems.'" When Cho said this, she leaned in far enough that Nima could track only one of her two eyes.
She was a Mon Calamari, an aquatic species from Dac, her skin red, her eyes big and wide. Her mouth was wide, and it was certainly moving quite fast. Cho wasn't quite a friend, because a friend wasn't someone you got into weeks long arguments with. When they were close, they were close, and when they weren't getting along for whatever reason, they kept away from each other.
But Cho Okbia always had interesting things to say.
"Well… it seems like that's going a bit far, isn't it?" Nima asked, as she glanced down at the table in the cafe. It was a comfortable talk, right then, though it was starting to get towards time to head to their rooms to relax.
Nima sipped her tea.
"Of course it is. Property can't be seized just for disloyal belief. Certain acts of treason or wartime sabotage, yes? But this is only going to cause trouble."
A law was currently winding its way through the Galactic Senate which allowed mandatory loyalty oaths for almost all residents of a captured Separatist planet, and allowed, if a person refused to take an oath and showed even the least hint of anti-Republic thought, to have their property confiscated.
It was… controversial, and yet the article that Cho was reading from, the datapad held in one of her webbed hands, seemed to indicate that it was at least being seriously considered.
"Who will surrender with such provisions. Traitors to the Republic are horrible, but winning in this manner is as good as losing," Cho said. "And it's not necessary. I don't see how the Senate could fail to correct this, perhaps adding in provisos. Make it about disloyal action, not thought. There's a large contingent that won't allow something like this to happen."
Nima nodded, which is when someone gave a sort of coughing laugh. It was Hannah, striding up to them. She had blue-green hair--apparently natural, some sort of variety of human--kept longer than usual, and dark-eyed and smirking, with hoop earrings in her ears that her father had given her as a sort of memento of her mother. Nima only knew this because Hannah had told it to her once, when she'd gotten angry at Nima.
That happened a lot. They… weren't quite enemies. Precisely. They were both Jedi, after all. But even more than Aydan, Nima just didn't like Hannah.
"It'll pass. It'll inevitably pass. And it's naivete like this that shows why the Jedi are where they are. Take it from me," Hannah said, leaning on the table. "Someone who's Republic born and--"
"We're all Republic born," Cho said, her tone cool enough to almost lower the tone of the room.
"Well, sure. But I'm the daughter of a Senator. From Coruscant. The Jedi really need to learn how to play the game, if you want to do your little… reforms. You know, the ones you won't shut up about?"
"I know that politics can sometimes be dirty," Cho said, with a sigh, staring at Hannah with both eyes. "But I know there are--"
"Plenty of Senators who are greedy. C'mon, think about it. The Clones aren't going to be spending their time doing something like that. They're more important than that. And too honest, at that. So it'll be down to bureaucrats. Planetary figures. Appointees. And who appoints them? The bureaucracy, run by, who?"
"The Chancellor and the Senate both," Cho said, reluctantly.
"Exactly! Use your brain," Hannah said with a smirk. "He'll promise cushy jobs and fingers in that pie to anyone who plays along. That's the way the Senate works. All of that money seized, well, who will know if some of it is siphoned off?"
"The Jedi will know," Nima insisted.
"While they're in the middle of a war? They can do some, and perhaps a few examples will be caught. If I were the Chancellor I'd put nothing in writing and hope the Jedi caught all my enemies being corrupt hypocrites," Hannah said. "But I'm not. More the pity."
"You'd run the Republic into the ground," Cho said. "Chancellor Palpatine is the best leader we've had in some time… even if he seems too willing to take drastic measures."
"Yeah, and like a Mon…" Hannah paused, flushing. "I shouldn't have said that," she added, as quickly as she'd trailed off. Even she acknowledged that there were limits she sometimes passed. She really did feel guilty, and she'd just seen an opportunity to show off.
Perhaps, like Aydan, she even convinced herself that her words were somehow teaching people a lesson in reality.
"You shouldn't have," Nima said, calmly.
"Now go--" Cho began.
Nima glanced over at her. "Please, apologize. And if it is true that some will be bribed, then something should be done."
"It… should. The Jedi should know people who can play the game. They can't stand aloof and yet feel responsible for cleaning up every single one of the Republic's messes," Hannah said.
"The Republic has brought freedom to countless people," Cho said.
"So have the Jedi," Hannah retorted, glancing over at Nima. "Think about that. I don't know what to do either, but this? It's nonsense."
"Hannah," Nima said, trying to see a way to connect with her. There was something there. Something deeper than just superiority, though it was buried and small.
"Hannah, just go away and stop trying to help," Cho said. "Please." She took a breath. "We're trying to look through the news."
"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted," Hannah said. She turned on her heels and marched off… to the cafe worker to order a tea to go.
"What?" Cho asked, when Nima looked at her. She blinked a little lazily. "She just came up and started on Coruscanti nonsense."
"Maybe." After a moment of thinking, Nima added, "Yes. So, what was the other news? You mentioned there was a bill about…"
"Taxes, actually. So you see, there's…"
********
The war reached its tendrils everywhere, and when Nima could finally visit her friend Ayguin, she saw yet another sign of what the war was going to do.
Ayguin was a human who helped out in the Halls of Healing. Even though she was an initiate, it was said she had a gift. It wasn't enough to be one of the Jedi performing surgeries or overseeing cases, but she did change bed sheets, help out when exhaustion set in for the Healers, and otherwise sacrifice a lot of her time and energy quite willingly.
It was something Nima admired, even if the other girl was sometimes reserved, except with patients. She always opened up a little more around them. But even all of those years after having been freed from slavery, she still seemed unable to quite open up around most people.
But Nima was one of those people. So she headed down, remembering the way it'd looked like almost two months ago, when every bed was filled and more and the healers exhausted themselves trying to fight the tide.
Compared to that, these halls were empty. But what that merely meant was that two-thirds of the crisp white-grey beds in the grey rooms were filled as she passed them, glancing at the symbols on the walls. There were Surgery wards, there were areas with the famous healing crystals, there was an area for psychological counseling… it just didn't end.
Ayguin wouldn't be in the surgery, no, instead she'd be… ah, there was a room with an open door.
"I need to get back into the fight," a middle-aged man said. He was a Cathar, slightly stout, and clearly a bit out of practice with fighting, though his mane was thick and bristling. His chart said that his name was Juhir Lim, and that he was a Jedi Knight who'd taken rather severe internal and external injuries. "Where's Master Iskina? I'm sure she'd agree that I need to be bumped up the priority list." It spoke to his bravery that he wanted to get back into it.
Ayguin had nut-brown hair, and soft brown eyes, looking very small indeed in her robes as she said. "I'll ask her, but I think you need at least another week."
Juhir let out a sigh. "Apologies. But."
"You've fought bravely. You couldn't have known that the Separatists would be--"
"As they are?" he asked, with a snort. His voice was deep, even booming. "I've been working for peace for so long, but now I see what that gets us. As soon as I'm up and ready I'm going to start training again. I've let my saber-work go rusty," he added. He loomed over her.
"I… can't say what you should do," Ayguin said. "And… oh!"
Nima stepped forward, closing the door behind her. "I hope you don't mind me intruding, sir."
"It's no problem. Are you this girl's friend?"
"I am," Nima said. "Were you… ambushed during the Itix System talks?" A system that had joined the Separatists at the start of the crisis, but had been backing out once it realized that the Separatists were asking just as much from them as the Republic had asked.
Except it was a trap. Or, if not a trap, then it'd been made into one, and now there was fighting over Xita, and the Ganlons were stuck in the middle.
"Yes. I was in charge of them. It was going well, and then separatists showed up, in force. Led by some sort of… Force-sensitive. I could feel them, their darkness. It was vibrant, bright like a knife." He shuddered. "But at first the clones held out. We took out the droids five-on-one. The clones had just been there for…"
Nima leaned in, to indicate she was listening.
"Just in case, I guess. Then that dark-sider and a pack of droids forced their way through towards two of the entrances on the orbital station. Sandwiching us. Ganlons like space," he explained. "The atmosphere of their world means they have had orbital colonies for a while, since it can't support too much, but there are pockets of habitability and their language is interesting in that…" he shook his head.
Nima sort of gave him a slight tug in the Force, a sort of 'go on' gesture.
"It's an interesting language. But what we need is fighters now, not linguists. And the droids slaughtered even civilians. The better to take over. I fought them, and even beat some of them. But there were always more droids, and then we had to retreat. I can't remember what happened next. What remained of the Clones escaped, if I'd stayed I'd have died, before even meeting whoever was leading the attack. But there are those who embrace the Darkness fighting for the Separatist forces besides Dooku. I'm sure of that now. And that means we need to fight back."
Ayguin nodded, as he sank back, apparently exhausted from his words, and the injuries still not yet fully healed.
"And you shall. Just… give it time, you know?" Nima asked.
"In the fullness of time do all things come," Juhin said, with a soft smile, quoting some piece of philosophy.
*******
"Thanks for talking to him, he was getting very worked up," Ayguin said, as she poured a cup of caf. This was one of the few areas where a Jedi could find a caf machine, actually. The Temple overwhelmingly preferred tea, though one could make their own caf if they wanted. Ayguin, though, drank the disgusting brown liquid as if it were a tenet of her religion.
It was a soothing area. One thing about the Hall of Healing was that the skylights and the pink crystal pillars meant that for all that one could look at some parts and see just any hospital, other elements felt unique. Grey walls, but plenty of light. Plenty of life. Even small garden areas.
"It was nothing."
"Not to me, it wasn't. You're very good at this. You know, you could try to begin learning around here. Helping out, perhaps working on healing with the Force."
"I'm no healer," Nima said.
"It's not hard to learn," Ayguin said. "It just comes to you naturally if you care enough and are dedicated and smart. You're all of that."
Nima flushed slightly at the compliment. "You say that, but that's because that's your area of expertise," Nima said. "Have you learned more lately?"
Force Healing was difficult, often time-consuming to learn, and it wasn't some perfect fix to all problems. But it could close wounds that only bacta and time could, and it could do it even in the middle of a horrific battlefield.
It could do more, too, and the Force itself could guide a healer in the art of surgery without even using healing techniques.
"Yes. I'm working on battlefield injuries. I need to figure out how to set the wounds more efficiently. I take too long. Compassion is good, but--"
"I can't imagine having to be around all that blood," Nima said.
"You get used to it." Ayguin drank her coffee. "I can't imagine being on a battlefield, where you'd be sure to lose someone in surgery or work. We don't… lose Jedi here often. If they get here, they live. Even during this war, that seems to be so most of the time so far. Except for the older Jedi."
"Ah," Nima said, quietly. "Are you holding up?"
"I… am." Ayguin sipped her coffee.
"What is it?"
"I don't want to be rude," Ayguin said, her voice small. She was beginning to retreat, which meant that she had something important to say.
"Don't worry about that."
"Is there any way you could… check up on someone for me?"
"Who?"
"Tallisibeth."
Nima frowned, "Oh, Scout."
"I… know Offee. She's a Mirialan, a Padawan, but very skilled." Ayguin hesitated before adding, "She knows Ahsoka, one of Scout's closer friends. And she's drifted away from everyone except Ahsoka since her Master died."
"Oh."
Nima hadn't even known: there were so many deaths that the name had just slipped by. But now that she thought on it, and the list. Yes. She'd been a Padawan, and now she was an Initiate again. Or, was that how it worked? But she'd lost someone, someone who'd believed in her.
Nima felt it like a punch in her gut, her ignorance, the fact that she hadn't helped out.
"This is why… I hesitated."
"Why?"
"That look on your face. You want to help her. You want to help everyone."
"Is that wrong?"
Ayguin shook her hands. "No. Just." She flushed. "It's a cruel galaxy, isn't it? That's what…"
"Has Aydan been talking to you?"
"He… did. B-but I told him that Healers helped the war too and he just nodded and glared at me o-once more and--"
Ayguin only stuttered like that when she was really stressed.
"If he ever tries anything again. Tell me. And Yoda. And everyone," Nima said.
"I can. Will you… talk to Scout?"
"I'll see what I can do. Now, can you tell me, does this place serve tea too, and are you going to be on break in the next hour?"
"N-no."
"Then I'll go with you if you need anyone to help you care for the patients."
It was just menial work, really. Sometimes gross, even, for sentients in a hospital were far from at their best.
But it was time with her friend, and it helped the galaxy in some small way. So she didn't begrudge it.
*******
Finding Scout was harder than it seemed. She moved around all the time, and her schedule seemed even more packed than the average Initiate's. It was a full week of trying to figure her out before Nima was able to track her down, no thanks to her own rather full schedule.
The secret was that at least some of Scout's Force-based classes were rather younger than her age. Combine that with taking far too many electives and one got a schedule that was hard to work out.
But finally, panting, Nima managed to make it from her late afternoon class to the Jade training room. The kids were pouring out of it, at all ages, actually, and then the Master after that. But not Scout.
Actually, not everyone at all.
As Nima watched, curious, the flood died too quickly, and half of those who left returned in just a minute.
She stepped towards the door and opened it to reveal just another training room, really. Green walls, hard tiles, but with some padding for falls, and almost two-dozen Initiates and even a few Padawans, all running through what seemed to be additional lightsaber drills.
Getting extra practice.
Nima expected to find Scout among them, but instead she was leaning against a corner, almost invisible--though not in the Force--and watching it all as if she were about to raise up a holocam and record everything. There was an intentness on her face, framed by her red hair. This was someone who knew what she was doing.
Whatever that was.
Nima approached, drawing a little more attention than Scout had, but the people glancing her way soon had to dodge backswings from their opponents, and the hum of lightsabers and the sound of them meeting drowned out Nima's footsteps well enough. At least, it did for the participants.
"Hey," Nima said.
"Oh, hey," Scout said. The girl frowned, and Nima could see the calculation in her eyes. "If you want to join, they'd probably have you. They're older, but they're alright."
Nima processed that. "Then why don't you join in?"
"I do, sometimes. Nima Tyruti, right?" Scout asked, frowning a little as if she were calling up information on a notecard. Though how she knew her name, well. It was a talent, most likely. Even if it was a subtle one.
"Yes," Nima said.
"I do sometimes. But sometimes it's best to watch. Try to take in details, so you can know how someone fights."
"You do that a lot, watching people," Nima said.
"Sometimes I pace too," Scout said, with a brief flash of a smile, though there was something very brittle about it. "What brings you here?"
The training Initiates were a little older than Nima, and it was odd how it worked. Sometimes a single month or two could put two Younglings on completely different paths, rarely to ever see each other. She vaguely recalled some of them: A Chagrian named Lema, a Mon Cal named Gumbrack, an older Wookie called Charukka, almost fourteen and apparently on the verge of being picked up as a Padawan, albeit almost too late.
"Well, see." Nima frowned. "I know Ayguin."
"The girl who works in the Halls of Healing?" Scout said.
"Yes. And she knows Offee, who knows Ahsoka Tano…"
"Who knows me. It's like a game of holo-phone," Scout said with a teasing smile. "So, one of them was worried? It couldn't have been Ahsoka, she's too straightforward. She'd just tell me."
"I know that it's--"
"Hard?" Scout said.
Nima took a moment to try to center herself.
"You don't need to worry about me," Scout said. "I just need to… train harder."
"And watch people?" Nima said.
"It tells you a lot about how they fight," Scout said.
Nima had a certain hunch. Maybe it was in the Force, or maybe it was just intuition. But she followed that intuition. She let herself sink deep into that question, and she saw what Scout feared. It wasn't just not being good enough. Nor was the sorrow just because a person she'd cared for, Master Kim, had died.
It was that, but it was more. It was that she hadn't truly mourned, hadn't truly relaxed. She'd been working herself to the bone, thinking every moment, planning every moment, but what she did didn't matter. Or she felt like it didn't. Nima remembered the words of various fellow students. In every class except linguistics and those requiring the Force--where she was paired with people years younger--she was at the top or near the top. If Masters chose Padawans based on their Astrophysics scores, then Scout would never have to worry about becoming a Padawan again.
But they didn't. So what did it matter if she was at the top of every class? She wanted to be a Jedi, with a fierce will that was almost startling. She wasn't going to quit, she didn't want to go to AgriCorp, but if given a choice between leaving the Order entirely and that, that's what she'd choose.
She had the kind of skills that probably meant that she could make any number of lives, do any number of things: but she'd only ever wanted one thing, wanted it so fiercely that Nima had to admire it.
"Oh? It does?"
"For one, there's the way you can feel emotions," Scout said. "You get this distant look on your face."
"You've watched me?"
"In fights, you sometimes rely on that too much. Or maybe not enough. You're quick, and your slashes are graceful, but there's a hastiness to your attacks. You don't commit. Your stance is usually solid, but, hrm. You don't always know what to do next, even when you get in a good attack. Your grip's a bit weak too, if someone really pressed hard and used their strength, then what would you do?"
Nima blinked, impressed, "Ah. You're…"
"I just watch things," Scout said, dismissing her own talents.
She was proud, but it was a different, contrary sort of pride. "We should study together sometime. After all, teamwork matters, right? In the war, you're going to be a Padawan, and you're going to lead clones, right?"
"Yes," Scout said. She couldn't deny, at least out loud, that she'd eventually become a Padawan.
"So, we could study together? Just when we have time. I've heard you're top of the class in Astronavigation, and Math. And you're pretty strong. What kinds of exercises do you do?"
"They're not… I." Scout said. "I don't think it's--"
"There's a war on. If I don't know how to Astronavigate, well." Nima shrugged, smiling a little. "And I know languages, right?"
"Well, that's what everyone says," Scout added.
Nima wasn't impossibly skilled, but all Jedi picked up other languages easily, and the fact that she'd basically learned three languages by the time she was five helped a lot, and meant that she picked up further languages fast.
"Thanks," Nima said. "So what do you say?"
"We could do that," Scout said.
"You have a gift for noticing these things," Nima said.
"And you notice emotions," Scout added, clapping Nima on the shoulder.
"Sometimes, yes."
And sometimes she just missed things, Nima thought. She could be better. She could also use some training, for that matter.
The war was going to come.
No, that was wrong. The war was already here.
As she watched the Initiates training, she more fully understood that the lightsaber was a weapon that could and would kill and hurt. There was a war in this very room, a practice war, and one day they could be swinging those lightsabers through droids, and even people. That'd always been true, but it'd been a thing you tried to ignore. Downplay. They'd have to fight, eventually, if the war dragged on for much longer, and they could face that moment where peace lost and war won, just as Juhir. There were Juhirs that didn't survive.
She couldn't be one of them.
Though what that meant was… unclear.
So, over the next while, as the war rages on, what does Nima do? (Choose 2)
[] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[] Ayguin is always so busy at the Halls of Healing. Perhaps Nima could be more company, and perhaps learn a little basic first-aid or the like. Even if she's not going to be a healer.
[] Nima could perhaps spend a little longer studying how the war is going down. If she's going to be in a war… does that mean she'll be leading battles? Or deciding tactics? What does war even mean? Are there maps to track what's going on in the war?
[] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
[] Nima's not currently taking the Piloting class, but perhaps she could at least spend a little time in the simulators they have set up in the north wing. She knows that there are several Initiates who spend basically all of their free time hanging around there.
[] There's an old room near the library that people often use as a hangout spot. They gossip, they read things downloaded from the Archives--at least those things not restricted to the Archives themselves--and sometimes bring snacks from a nearby cafe. She could spend her time there, unwinding.
[] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
******
A/N: Alright, here we go. No moratorium this time.
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- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Very nice update. Poor Luminara. :/
Not sure on what update to pick for now and will need to think about it.
Not sure on what update to pick for now and will need to think about it.
- Location
- Home
[X] Plan New Yoda.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
So I'm thinking we become a new Yoda, every era needs a Yoda. Not in the way he speaks, but how he is more of a peacekeeper than most.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
So I'm thinking we become a new Yoda, every era needs a Yoda. Not in the way he speaks, but how he is more of a peacekeeper than most.
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
[X] Ayguin is always so busy at the Halls of Healing. Perhaps Nima could be more company, and perhaps learn a little basic first-aid or the like. Even if she's not going to be a healer.
I do want a Jedi Healer quest, and these seem best for that.
[X] Ayguin is always so busy at the Halls of Healing. Perhaps Nima could be more company, and perhaps learn a little basic first-aid or the like. Even if she's not going to be a healer.
I do want a Jedi Healer quest, and these seem best for that.
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
This would probably help Wessen feel better, and combat experience is unfortunately useful, under the circumstances.
[X] Ayguin is always so busy at the Halls of Healing. Perhaps Nima could be more company, and perhaps learn a little basic first-aid or the like. Even if she's not going to be a healer.
And healing is a useful thing to know, I think.
This would probably help Wessen feel better, and combat experience is unfortunately useful, under the circumstances.
[X] Ayguin is always so busy at the Halls of Healing. Perhaps Nima could be more company, and perhaps learn a little basic first-aid or the like. Even if she's not going to be a healer.
And healing is a useful thing to know, I think.
- Location
- Austria
Okay, so Aydan found a new target to harass while saying it's for their own good.
Soo.
And we want to survive..also, Wessen and Scout probably will connect quite well. I hope.
[X] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
Soo.
And we want to survive..also, Wessen and Scout probably will connect quite well. I hope.
[X] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
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- Location
- United States of America
[X] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
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In_lurk_shadow
[ ]
- Location
- here and there
[X] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] Wessen and Nima could both use a little more exercise and combat experience. Perhaps they should practice a little more with Scout, or see what she does to keep as fit as she is.
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
Man, all the little bits of Clone Wars events getting tied in really helps to firmly root this. I'm continuing to enjoy the mood of the war pervading the scenes, too, even from afar. 
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
Overly tempted by Slaggedfire's thought.
Alternatively, study tactics & strategy. Or current events. Maybe Yoda was too out of touch with more mundane political and military matters? Depends on how Yoda is portrayed in this quest, I suppose.
[X] Wessen still hasn't talked to Yoda. Perhaps Nima should do it for her, though Aydan hasn't yet repeated his performance on her again.
[X] War makes one long for peace. Perhaps she should spend more time meditating and going to the gardens, to try to clear her head, see what she can find.
Overly tempted by Slaggedfire's thought.
Alternatively, study tactics & strategy. Or current events. Maybe Yoda was too out of touch with more mundane political and military matters? Depends on how Yoda is portrayed in this quest, I suppose.
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- Location
- Midway
[X] Plan New Yoda.