Crystals In The Cold

[EmilyHuene]

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Frozen Tundra
~Orto Plutonia~
@EmilyHuene ; @Undine ; @Vosrik ​

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Valerie needed training. Badly. Her and her sorta-kinda mentor Emerald had gone on a mission to try and learn what it was like to be a Jedi. On their way, they got attacked by slavers who were far more interested in skinning Emerald than listening to her offer peace. Valerie would come to her rescue, despite her better judgement, and save the day. However, she turned once again to the Dark power that held her soul for so long. This is what the Jedi were worried about when they took her from Republic custody. Valerie was supposed to learn to avoid using the Dark side as a means of fighting and killing, but she couldn't help herself. So rather than trying to force a good situation to happen, Emerald thought it best to take a step back and try something else. Their journey would take them to the frozen planet in the Plutonia system. Here, Emerald hoped to find Valerie a Kyber crystal.

"It's freezing out here!" her Padawan would complain for the hundredth time. "What are we doing out here again? Why have we been walking for miles? Why can't the ship just fly us to where we need to go?"

Unlike Emerald, Valerie did not have fur. She was a simple human with almost no meat on her bones and thus was prone to colder temperatures and suffering a life of what she called "poor circulation" in her bones. She was so cold. So very very cold. She had been given a warm fur coat, but it did nothing for her legs and the robes the Jedi wore weren't the most accommodating for warmth either. Valerie could feel her hands going numb as she kept them tucked under her armpits.

"Can we please just go back?"

​

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[Vosrik]

"Feel the Force flowing through the ice and snow. Let it calm and teach you to endure it — tolo hi, Vosrik!" Orrin reproved, reverting to his strange dialect as he witnessed the Jedi Master light a ball of fire between his hands. "I understand your expertise in Pyrokinesis, but this will not teach you to withstand the cold, only prevent it."

Vosrik sighed as he extinguished the flames, sticking his hands under his armpits and looking to the ceiling of the massive cave they were in. The walls glistened gently with light, the ice reflecting it back from the entrance in the ravine not too far back. Orrin had told the former Jedi Lord that he wouldn't enjoy their next coordinates, and if anything the old Justicar was always right. Vosrik pulled his cloak tighter around him, feeling his lightsaber press against his side. Named Vigilance, it didn't last very long, though he still had yet to figure out why. The blade stopped functioning properly, and now in this ice-ridden wasteland it ceased to work entirely. Pulling it out again, Vosrik tried igniting it to no effect.

"Why won't this thing...work?" he muttered, mostly to himself. Orrin was a strange man, seeming to have the eyes and ears of someone much younger than himself and, as always, caught what Vosrik said. He turned briefly, pausing their slow trek deeper into the cavern.

"You constructed it far too quickly I'm afraid. Such is the nature of a Jedi's weapon — surely you remember learning this on Ilum as a Padawan?" The blank expression on Vosrik's face was all Orrin needed to see, smiling and chuckling as they continued onward. "Alae! The crystal caves are not far ahead. There you'll find another one and reforge your blade. Perhaps with a finer name."

Vosrik looked even more aghast at the Justicar. "But...I thought Vigilance was a great one! And why can't I just find another from that box you have full of them?"

Orrin shook his head as the Jedi Master quickened his pace until they were side by side. "None of those crystals will call out to you like the now-broken one inside your blade did. If one had, then it would have been a much tougher choice for you back in the forests of Trian." The Justicar peered sideways as they neared what looked like the remains of a man-made entrance to a smaller cave. Vosrik's face was in a knot, and Orrin knew he was wondering why he didn't just find one in the caves of Dantooine where he'd just left. "This is also training for you. Justicars must learn to preserve their strength and know how to survive longer than any other in the most desolate corners of this Galaxy."

Understanding and acceptance seemed to settle finally on Vosrik as he looked as far as he could into the smaller cave. Reaching out with his hand and closing his eyes, he could feel the group of Kyber crystals growing further within. The Lightsider could tell it wasn't a very large amount — otherwise it likely would have been picked clean by Sith or other wandering bands of collectors looking for anything to sell. Drawing in a breath of the frigid air, Vosrik wiped the ice crystals off his eyelashes. "We should make camp here. I guess if I'm going to take my time with this one...we'll be here for a while."

@Undine @EmilyHuene​

 

[Undine]

The bitter winds of the icy landscape crawled down the Horansi's spine, biting at the wounds she received on Ryloth. For the most part, Emerald blamed herself, coming face-to-face with the man that had once owned her mother had taken a strength of character the Jedi Knight had yet to achieve. In her foolish rage, Emerald had attempted to meet with the slaver alone which lead to her capture by the band of slavers and a public whipping. Emerald had never felt so ashamed of herself, the stretches of skin where the fur had been torn off and marked with scabbed slashes was enough proof of that.

Emerald hadn't gone to Ryloth seeking to fight slavers, she had hoped to show Valerie where she'd been born. When she'd heard them though, she couldn't help but remember when she'd gone to Ryloth after her adoptive mother died and her failure then. In that moment she'd hoped to finally kill them, even if it meant giving into the dark side and Emerald couldn't bare to think of how she'd failed Valerie, much less how she had failed her mothers, her birth mother as well as Narisa who'd raised her. The only victory in it all was that Emerald finally had a name to use when she whispered to her mother's memory. This only made her even more conflicted though, did she take her mother's last name or continue with Narisa's? Was Emerald's true name Akasha Sulis or Akasha Mountainpaw?

She needed answers just as much as Valerie did, but she knew she needed to be strong for her sake. The Force had called her to Orto Plutonia back on Dantooine, it still called her here, but she no longer knew if it was meant for Valerie or herself. Emerald felt so selfish and frustrated with herself. How could she consider herself a Jedi Knight if she couldn't do anything right?

She could hear Valerie complaining but the words were lost on her, the pain in her back emanated across her body, the wind stringed nearly as much as the lashes. Emerald's frustration began to build and swell and that's when she felt it, pulling at her again. It's seductive tongue licking its way across her wounds, nearly causing the Horansi to instinctively turn around and punch the air. She had turned around though, her frustration melting into pain as she caught Valerie's gaze. If Emerald had let into it, she would have hit Valerie, the thought of which made the Jedi sick to her stomach.

Valerie asked too many questions, she spent more time complaining then she did searching herself or the Force. Emerald closed her eyes and sat, right there in the snow, moving the muscles in her back as she attempted to find a position that was even remotely comfortable. "Emerald does not know where we are going, you do. You need to search yourself, ask the Force to guide you. Emerald will follow, but she cannot guide you now." Emerald spoke with a heavy heart, refusing to look Valerie in the eye. She would not abandon the young Jedi now, not after they've come this far, but she didn't feel she could really help anymore. Emerald knew she needed to be alone, to meditate and mend her heart on her own. She half hoped Valerie left her sitting in the snow, perhaps a blizzard would sweep across the plateau and let Emerald scream out her frustrations and tears, but Orto Plutonia wasn't the type of planet to be so kind.

Spoiler: OOC - Info On Previous Thread

In the thread leading up to this one, Emerald takes Valerie to the location on Ryloth where Emerald was born. Emerald explains that her mother died in childbirth and a former Jedi Knight turned Zeison Sha named Narisa Sulis saved her as an infant and raised her. Emerald does this in an attempt to form a bond with Valerie, for the time being, Emerald thinks this has backfired and I leave the outcome up to @EmilyHuene

Emerald had been to Ryloth in the past when she was younger, but this time she finally ran into the slavers who'd owned her mother. In an attempt to be alone with the lead slaver so she could kill him, Emerald was captured and severely beaten. Because of this she isn't really in the mood to be a Jedi mentor, though she is still trying to keep her cool without simply falling over into a ball of tears.

Perhaps both Emerald and Valerie will be able to learn something from the former Jedi Lord.

 

[EmilyHuene]

"Emerald does not know where we are going, you do. You need to search yourself, ask the Force to guide you. Emerald will follow, but she cannot guide you now."

Frustrated, the girl would grumble and walk a few steps around the Horansi. She still had not gotten used to Emerald's third-person talk and she really wasn't in the mood to be respectful about it. She knew, inside, that it was a translation barrier that Emerald experienced. Someone respectful might be able to move past that and ignore it, but all Valerie wanted to do now was be spiteful and throw it back in her face.

"Well maybe Valerie doesn't want to search," she would say in a snippy tone of voice. "The Force is telling Valerie she's cold and wants to go home. This is a waste of time. There's nothing out here. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Just ice and cold." She kicked the ground kicking up snow as she did and then took another few steps forward. She stopped and looked back seeing Emerald still sitting in the snow....still refusing to get up. She was about to snap at her again but her eyes would come to focus on the wounds. She was being cruel, Valerie knew this. Emerald had been through a lot in the past couple of days. She had no idea the inner turmoil she must have been experiencing, but she could tell the physical ones were probably torture enough.

"How are your wounds?" she would ask with a now sincere tone. She was quieter, less aggressive. "Do we need to take a break?"​

@Undine

 

[Vosrik]

Orrin nodded in solemn agreement to Vosrik's suggestion to make camp. It looked as though others decided to do the same, judging by the looks of the entrance to the cave. Little snow blew this far in, so the remains of another campfire were still present. The Jedi Master peered around the area, looking for something he could burn. A few twigs and sticks laid around, which he gathered gingerly and placed into a meager pile. Orrin smiled and laughed gently while shaking his head, instead making his way towards a small pile of snow near the edge of the cavern wall.

"These remains look pretty old...how long do you think it's been since someone was here?" Vosrik peered closer at the blackened pile. His untrained eyes couldn't determine much about it other than it wasn't made recently.

"I'd say they're..." Orrin paused as he dug through the snow, finding and extracting a box. "About a year or two old. That's when I last came here." Cracking open the box, he revealed several logs of firewood, two of which the Ranger added to the tiny pile Vosrik made. The Jedi Master's eyebrows raised as he looked at the campfire again, sitting down next to it. Reaching a hand out, he called upon the Force to cast a pulse of fire which instantly ignited the dry logs. Now the pale blue and white of the cave reflected a comfy red and orange, and Orrin sat down opposite Vosrik.

"Last time I came here was when I gathered what I had back with you on Trian. The crystals should have regrown since I collected what I could — I guess I've always feared something like Illum and Tython would happen."

Vosrik stared blankly at the fire in response. The devastation that happened was still too soon, but he knew he'd work against the Empire as best as he could. Snapping back to the moment, he placed his lightsaber into his lap while giving it another fruitless shake. "So, do I have to reforge the entire thing? I do like the design of it..."

Orrin shook his read in response. "No, you simply need to find another crystal. That will be your first task." He turned his head, looking down the darkened path. The smooth rock walls were accented by sharp Kyber crystals, resonating softly like little nexuses of Force energy.

@Undine @EmilyHuene​

 

[Undine]

She sat there in the snow and wind listening to Valerie spout off, throwing a sort of fit about the weather, as if being cold was anything compared to the horrors that awaited her in darkness. Emerald had had enough, Valerie wanted a break and so she'd get a broken heart. Emerald had seen in her mind during their first encounter, she'd seen the pain caused to her by her family, she knew what that kind of pain felt like. Standing up, Emerald looked at Valerie, the wind seemed to die down and the two of them were left in the white silence the planet offered. It wasn't entirely natural however, the Jedi knight was using the Force to dampen the sounds, the natural silence being replaced with a cone devoid of sound.

Valerie had reminded her too much of Sigal, another Jedi initiate Emerald had sought to help. Though Sigal had eventually found her peace, it hadn't been a pleasant experience and Emerald saw need for a similar instance now. Just as she'd done with Sigal, the Horansi began to circle Valerie, slowly as she made sure to keep an unwavering glare focused on the girl. Her face was hard, she didn't speak at first though she could tell Valerie tried to say something, to ask or question or complain. It didn't matter, the Jedi Knight was too intent on suppressing the girl's sense of hearing. Valerie would be locked inside her own mind, her thoughts the only things to keep her company as Emerald guided her gaze with her footsteps.

Just as with Sigal, Emerald knew she had to send the girl over the edge, to force to to face herself and accept whatever it was she kept refusing. The girl had asked about her wounds, and as their first form of communication sense Emerald had begun her movements, the Horansi sent all her emotions outward to the girl. The anger came first, Emerald was furious, both with the slavers and herself, but also with Valerie, and she let Valerie feel that anger, to understand that Emerald was trying not to break under the weight of her frustrations. Despite the silence becoming deafening, the snow kicked itself up around them, twirling and twisting along with the rage that seethed and echoed between the two Force wielders.

The second emotion was pain, the sense of her gut falling through her stomach as the wind was knocked out her. It wasn't just the pain caused by the lashes of the whips, it was the pain Emerald felt at finally knowing her mother's name. The confusion that it caused within her and the deep seated heartache of knowing she'd never known her mother. It was a pain the Horansi had known her entire life, but in this moment it was heightened. As Emerald shared this pain with Valerie, bringing the girl to her knees as Emerald's face started to ice over from tears, she also started moving closer to the girl, slowly still but with every step the circle and the cone of silence grew smaller, yet more intense.

The last emotion Emerald shared was shame, shame at failing herself, shame at giving into her darkness, at allowing herself to be chained and whipped like some animal, as well as shame that she questioned who her true mother had been. More than anything though, Emerald was ashamed that she hadn't been there for Valerie. As the emotions raised and threatened to overcome them both, Emerald suddenly pulled them away from the girl, but not back into herself. She now knelt just in front of Valerie, still maintaining the gaze they'd shared up until then.

A small shard of ice rose from the ground and floated in between Emerald's paws. The Jedi Knight pooled all of her anger and frustration, her pain and sadness as well as her shame into a condensed ball of Force energy swirling around the shard of ice. As the ice began to felt Emerald continued to hold it there, floating in the air as her focus began to strain. With one final tug with the Force, Emerald pulled every negative emotion she could out of Valerie's heart and into the small ball. She could feel the Force guiding her hand as she crafted a literal ball of darkness.

Finally, tears falling from both of their eyes now, Emerald caused the ball to harden, turning to ice once more as she held it up for Valerie to see. It was clear, just as one might expect of ice, but Emerald knew the girl could sense it, the darkness that was carried within the ice. The oppressing silence shifted, not entirely allowing sound back in but no longer felt heavy. That's when Emerald spoke, not with her tongue, but with her mind. "If we leave this ice will melt, and we will be trapped by our darkness forever. Stay and find your crystal, so that Emerald might show you how to cleanse yourself and each other." As she spoke, Emrald put the ball of ice and darkness inside a pocket in her robe before pulling the girl into a comforting embrace.

Emerald knew that what she'd done might cause the girl to hate her, but she saw no other choice at the moment. It was either force Valerie to face her own heart, or give up and go home. It was risky sure, but giving up entirely left no room for any sort of reward. For now, Valerie was right, they needed to take a break. Emerald took a moment to look around, spotting a cave nearby that they could use for shelter. Placing a paw on Valerie's forehead, Emerald whispered some kind words as she caused the no doubt exhausted girl to fall asleep in her arms. She picked up the human girl, holding her close while she readjusted to the empathic assault she'd just experienced, and carried her to the cave. Who they found there left Emerald stunned, almost in tears all over again.

As they neared the cave, Emerald began to sense a strong presence within the light side, but she was too drained to sense that it was actual people. Her senses weak after straining herself so recently. The Jedi Knight recognized the face of the former Jedi Lord as she entered the cave. She stood there for a second before taking a step deeper into the cave, the warmth of the fire already grazing her fur. "Master." Emerald whispered before nearing the fire as she spared a glance towards the man next to the Jedi Master. He wasn't anyone Emerald recognized, though she knew he was at least an ally if not a friend of the Jedi.

Laying Valerie down on a patch of nexu fur near the fire, Emerald decided that speaking to these two men before waking Valerie would be the wise choice. "It seems the Force has guided Emerald to you both." She pulled the ball of ice from within her robes, showing it the two men of light. "To cleanse ourselves, this initiate must claim a crystal. Combined, our crystals will provide us the conduit to free our souls from darkness this one has temporarily bound within this ice." Emerald placed the orb next to her, it's touch against her paw made her skin crawl. "The Force called her to this world, and called Emerald to you, perhaps we must help each other?" The Horansi had heard the tail end of the two men's' conversation. It seemed ever Jedi Lords had to, on occasion, refind themselves. Emerald had nothing but respect for Lord Tanari, what he was doing now spoke more of his as a Jedi than her own groveling to him for aid.

She knew what needed to be done. When Valerie woke she would need to find herself a crystal as well, an honor to participate in such a timeless ritual of the Jedi with a master so esteemed. Once that was done the hard part would come. If she and Emerald could combine their crystals for a split second within the ball of ice, the radiant light side energy would be able to cleanse the darkside energy trapped within. If they failed, their crystals would crack and wither however, the idea of losing the crystal of her namesake haunted the Jedi, but she would do anything to finally be rid of the touch of darkness within her. Emerald only hoped Valerie would have the wisdom to see the ritual through.​

 

[EmilyHuene]

Now Valerie was getting concerned. All she'd asked Emerald was if her wounds were hurting her, and now she was doing a little dance of death around her. Valerie felt like a trapped animal being looked at by hungry wolves. Emerald's eyes glared at the Padawan which really worried her. It didn't help that her species had fangs just the same as one of those beasts. "Did I say something wrong...?" No response. Not physical at least. Emerald then sent out her emotions through her aura and they swarmed Valerie in a whirlpool of sensation. Anger. Pain. Shame. All at once. Emerald had felt so much anger, likely the only emotion she would have in common with the woman. For years she lived in anger with her parents as well as her brother. This was the Dark side and her upbringing in such. Anger she could deal with. Pain she could not.

Her knees would give out on her and her hands went to her head. She began to scream from all the emotion drowning out her own feelings. She felt heartbroken. Tears fell from her face. Emerald's heart was torn in two and so now was Valerie's. She understood the confusion in the Jedi's mind and how everything she knew was turned upside down. Valerie couldn't handle it. it was like every mental wall in her mind shattered like glass. Shame became her. She felt naked. Naked to the world and naked to Emerald. She felt how humiliated it was for Emerald when she was being whipped. Valerie didn't know, how could she? How could anyone? How could anyone know what it felt like to be treated like a lesser being and then having any shred of dignity one had ripped away from you?

Emerald was kneeling down in front of Valerie now. Their minds connected so closely. They shared every emotion. Emerald would see the pain in Valerie's heart. Her own pain and regret. Emerald would see Valerie seeing her slain mother, and then her brother chasing her through their home. She'd see them fighting in a struggle of Force power and then finally her reaching over the edge trying to catch her falling brother...and failing to save him. Emerald would watch Valerie's brother fall down to the depths below of the waterfall and not resurface....

"If we leave this ice will melt, and we will be trapped by our darkness forever. Stay and find your crystal, so that Emerald might show you how to cleanse yourself and each other."
​

All this pain she would take from Valerie. She'd steal that regret and form it into her ice shard of dark thought. With weak and exhausted eyes Valerie looked upon the crystal as her body tried to recuperate from the sudden stress she'd just gone through. Emerald would lean in and wrap her arms around Valerie to hold her close. Valerie couldn't comprehend what had happened. Her mind still raced with all the memories she'd just shared with her mentor of sorts. Emerald was trying to comfort her, to calm her down, and to protect her. She might have been afraid that Valerie would hate her, but right now there was no hate to be had. If anything, she was grateful. And also sorry. She was sorry she wasn't more empathetic to her friend's torment.

And then she was asleep. Emerald had pushed a thought into her mind making Valerie to slip into slumber. She was already in a state of weariness, so it didn't take much. She fell limp and that was all she'd remember....