A Trial of Peace

[EmilyHuene]

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Jedi Military Base
~Dantooine~
@EmilyHuene ; @Undine​

It had been just over a week since Emerald and the other Jedi had dropped off Valerie on Dantooine. She was told to explore the temple and to make some friends. While she didn't make friends, per se, she did meet some interesting individuals. But she still felt alone. She was sad, vulnerable, and worst of all she felt like everyone hated her. She wasn't sure if people were staring at her because of the celebrity thing or because they knew what she'd done. Maybe both. Either way, as she walked around the outside of the base she thought about where her future was taking her. She had no choice but to learn to control her powers. But Valerie didn't feel like asking anyone for help....

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[Undine]

~ Theme Song ~

In the days after returning from the core worlds of the Republic, Emerald had been forced to remember her first days amongst the Jedi as she watched the young Valerie attempt to find her place among the Army of Light. The Horansi had left the only family she'd ever known, the Zeison Sha, to join the Jedi. Back on Yanibar, Emerald had felt out of touch, like she was looking into a window rather than actually feeling at home. For the longest time, and sometimes even now, Emerald had felt this way about the Jedi as well. More often than not she'd blame herself, told herself she was too different, too bestial, too much a fool. In the end she still felt inadequate when comparing herself to other Jedi, but she has since learned to stop doing that to herself.

It was only a matter of time for Valerie to start down a similar path, or so Emerald thought. The child needed to feel at home, to feel like family to someone and for someone to feel like family to her. It was for that reason Emerald sat in a dark meditation chamber, alone and trying to think of how to approach Valerie. With Sigal she'd known what to do from the moment she'd laid eyes on the girl, the emotional turmoil the Hapan had felt being isolated from her family after the death of her sister and the cold darkness she'd expressed because of that pain had been easy enough to understand. Emerald had even felt an immediate connection with her now adopted son Jalen. The child had been afraid and alone, everything inside Emerald had cried out, telling her what to do. In the end she'd gone as far as to cover up the boy's murderous past so he might have a new life within the Jedi.

With Valerie though it was different, her case was similar to Jalen's, but the hold darkness had over her was daunting, even to the Jedi knight. Emerald didn't know who to trust or ask for help, even among the Jedi. She'd spent her years among the ranks of light sided warriors almost constantly being judged for every aspect of who she was even after spending years attempting to emulate the qualities she was expected to. Most saw Emerald as nothing more than a powerhouse on the battlefield, and in that she was respected. But she was clumsy when it came to the more philosophical nature of the Jedi and her broken understanding of Galactic Basic as well as her various mannerisms left her seeming a fool to most. Many of the Jedi she'd encountered had either openly ridiculed her or silently dismissed her from afar, never bothering to take the time to understand her. Emerald could see the way her fellow Jedi had been watching Valerie, she could feel their stares as if they too were directed towards her.

So it was, in the dark meditation chamber, the Horansi Jedi knight broke down, exhausted with all the judgement she and those she loved had to face even among the ranks of their own brothers and sisters. Her thoughts were left blank as to how to help Valerie, she highly doubted the old I understand trick would work on the girl, Valerie was too out of reach for that. As she always did, Emerald had placed her lightsaber before her on the mat, in it's many pieces as she attempted to meditate on her thoughts by studying the intricacies of the lightsaber. It was just as her heart broke for Valerie that a ray of sunlight seemed to pass through the small window, casting it's warmth onto the various parts. For a few split seconds the emerald green kyber crystals that were Horansi's namesake seemed to glow before they and the ray of light dimmed and faded.

Emerald broke out in joyous laughter, she knew exactly what would help Valerie, to give her strength, something to keep her focused and to remind her she had a place among the Jedi no matter what. Emerald's revelation wasn't all good times and good music though, she also knew where to go. The dark side was a cold and unforgiving thing, Valerie would need to learn to overcome such things if she was to find a kyber crystal. Hoth didn't seem right, it was too focused in the light side, Valerie would need to find the light in the bitter winds and harsh blizzards of a world foreign to the light side. It had to be somewhere Emerald knew they would both be made to suffer, because she too held some amount of darkness inside her. Emerald wasn't unfamiliar with it's pull, at times it was all she felt, there were moments when the light side couldn't be found and only darkness welcomed her with open arms. Emerald always tried to avoid those moments at all costs, though she also had a habit of finding herself in such a moment unexpectedly. Emerald knew the perfect world for this, but first she needed to give Valerie something to better understand Emerald, and for that they would need to travel to Ryloth.

She had to find Valerie, Emerald quickly reassembled her lightsaber expertly, having taken it apart and rebuilding it hundreds of times. She stood, wiped her eyes and the fur on her face, looked to the window and paused. Strange she thought to herself, the sun had just shined through the panel of transparisteel yet based on the sky above, the sun was on the opposite side of the building. This hadn't been the first time she'd witnessed the Force's guiding hand at work. Emerald could only hope it was a good sign as she left the meditation chamber, beginning her crawl of the halls of the Jedi stronghold in her attempt to locate the Jedi initiate she'd once interrogated. As distasteful as it had been for everyone involved, it had clearly proven to be a good thing now that Valerie was safe amongst the Jedi. Emerald could only hope that the girl would show further ability on the path to becoming a Jedi knight one day, no matter how long that road was Emerald would make sure to stand by her, it was really the least any Jedi could do.​

 

[EmilyHuene]

Valerie would be outside of the base by the time Emerald came around looking for her. She liked it better outside, it was quieter. Well, quieter in the fact that there weren't so many people around. Being outside she could hear the constant roaring of the shuttles and fighter jets as they came and went from the base. It would drown out anyone talking or trying to hear themselves think. It was calming for the confused Padawan. She didn't want to be around where she could feel people staring her down and thinking cruel things of her. She just wished she could create a new identity and leave behind the one she'd cursed. Maybe she herself was cursed? Maybe that was the Dark side punishing her wherever she went...

She would look up as she felt the presence of someone familiar. The Horansi female who interrogated her back in the Republic space was coming her way. It wasn't like there was walking path out this way, so Valerie deduced the woman wasn't out for a leisurly walk. Obviously Emerald was coming her way to see her. Now the only question was why? What more did Emerald have to say to the girl who'd lost everything?

@Undine