Homecoming

[Cale]

Khaimov stood in front of the wall of plaques, staring at one name sadly. His quarry, the rogue padawan whom had murdered his master on Nar Shadaa and fled, was dead, slain by unknown assailants. His hunt was done, finished, completed. He could return to Anoth, to the Jedi. He could return home.

He should feel glad, or relieved. His hunt, which has lasted years, was finished. He was exonerated, the true murderer had been brought to justice. Yet it felt hollow. Unfinished. These unknown assailants had robbed him of his victory, and his chance to drag the padawan back before the Grand Master. Ebberla was not going to be pleased. Not in the slightest. Though that was no longer as terrifying as it might have been. Not after gaining years whilst trapped in the past. Years of experience and knowledge that would serve him well for his future dealings. He had truly opened himself up to the Force, and through that had learned the truth of who he was. He no longer feared judgement, for that would imply guilt. He had doen everything he could at this point in time.

So why did it still feel unfinished? Perhaps it was simply the feeling of being robbed. Perhaps it was the Force trying to tell him something. He wasn't quite sure. All he knew is that it felt hollow, and that he missed Elemia even more. She had not been the best of masters, as Vica would attest to. But she had been the one to train him, to show him what he could do if he put his mind to it. She had turned him from grieving young man into a jedi worthy of the name. And now, here he was, grieving all over again. He found a slight humor in this fact. A humor that was perhaps inappropriate to his location.

With a final sigh, the Bear turned from the wall of the fallen and strode off towards his ship. He carried a purpose with him, and an urgency. It was time to go home.

---

The ship blasted through hyperspace, running on autopilot as Khaimov meditated. The journey through hyperspace was going to take some time, and the master jedi wanted to be prepared for his arrival. It didn't help that there was a growing unpleasantness sifting through his soul, a sick, twisting feeling that seemed to cling to him more and more as they approached Anoth. It felt oily, slick and insidious, like someone was lurking in the shadows waiting to strike.

It disturbed his sleep, and his calm thoughts, bringing flashes of imagery into his mind. Ebberla Daw facing off against a dark shadow. Lightsabers clashing in the temple. Vica Vezk running her saber through his chest. Him collapsing to his knees, a look of betrayal on his face. Elemia pointing at him, accusingly. Nightmares and prophecy are always hard to separate.

And still it went on, images of doom and suffering flicking across his thoughts in the silence of his cabin. Nakoma. Sera. All the padawans he'd taught and protected. All of them dying horribly in fire and lightning and a flash of a saber.

It was enough to make the giant weep silently, tears sliding down his face. And then there was an alarm tone. The ship was about to return to realspace. Climbing to his feet, the giant jedi made his way into the cabin and sat himself down. A few minutes later, the blur of hyperspace faded into reality, and it felt like Khaimov had been hammered with a telekinetic blow to the stomach. He vomited over the side of the chair, gasping for breath as the sheer malevolence of the Dark Side permeated his entirety. There was no life here. No light. Only darkness and despair.

With trembling hands, the kiffar slowly brought the ship down into the atmosphere. Or at least what was left of it. The once beautiful planet of Anoth was now a wasteland, covered in purple glass, and deep burn scars. The temple was a ruin, flattened to nothingness. The winds battered at the ship, blasting it left and right, and it was only with sheer force of will that he managed to hold it on course. As the ship touched down, Khai wiped his mouth, and took a swig of water from a nearby canteen. Then he found a breathing mask and slowly stepped out into the wasteland.

The wind was like a hammer blow, causing him to fight with every step to reach his destination, and the Darkness seemed to taint the very ground he walked on. Flashes of images; of Ebberla standing proud and defiant, of padawans making their escape, wounded but triumphant, burst into his mind. The ghosts of momentous events touched him, and left him feeling ill. After a moment of sheer shock and appalled confusion, he turned on his heels and fought his way back to the ship, beginning his take-off sequence hurriedly in order to get away from this nightmarish hellhole as fast as possible.

He didn't know where he would go. He didn't know if any of the jedi had made it off planet. But he would find them if they had. Somehow.

---

It had been a long week. The distraught and exhausted master had tried every avenue he could think of, leaving coded messages for the Shadows, hunting for any sign of the Jedi. A fruitless and futile task. If they had been easy to find, the Imperium would have already hunted them down. He knew that. But he did not give up hope. He followed the tiniest of clues, hunting here and there until finally he found something. A possible lead on the Grand Master.

He clung to it like a life-line, as though it was his only way home. After over four years, he was finding his way back.

Now he just had to make it to her.

 

[Cale]

(OOC: For those wondering, Khaimov's reaction to Anoth is something like this

 

[GABA]

It was an interesting message to say the least. Ebberla had scanned through the database of the codes that filtered in, a system the Order kept in place to find Jedi who were looking to reach out to the Order. It was a delicate system, one that they had to keep constantly changing in order for the Imperium to stay off their tails. However, one had stood out to her, one that brought a smile to her face, well almost. She actually felt more angry it had took him so long to get back to her.

Regardless, Ebberla took the risk and reached out, sending another encrypted message to its source. She instructed him to meet her on the quiet world of Herdessa, where she had somehow found peace away from the war. Though she knew it would not be permanent, she knew it was a safe place for herself and her child.

Wrapped in the traditional clothing of Herdessa, Ebberla waited quietly, her sleeping bundle slept against her bosom in a sling, allowing the Jedi woman to keep her hands free for any trouble that could stir up. Her cowl covered her face just enough for her to pin point those who needed to study her closer. Though with a slight nudge in the Force, people turned away, their attention taken elsewhere as the Grand Master shifted through the streets, stopping by shops briefly before continuing on.

Her focus rested on her surroundings, feeling out for the unusual and for the familiar as she waited for the Jedi to show.

 

[Cale]

Khaimov strode through the streets of Herdessa, buoyed by a nebulous feeling of hope and excitement. Each step was long, and measured, but for those who paid attention, there was a quivering tension to those strides. A desire to walk faster, to run through the streets that was held at bay only through will. For those who were force-sensitive, a bright glow would have given the kiffar jedi away, a solid and stable presence in the Force that shone like the sun. He was making no effort to hide as he reached out with his senses, seeking a familiar presence, the beacon of almost-forgotten hope that he knew was somewhere in this city. Assuming it wasn't a trap anyhow.

Even had he been able to, he would not have turned people aside from studying him. Unlike the Grand Master, Khaimov Tor was an unknown, listed on no wanted lists, and not a public figure of any sort. He was simply a man on a mission. A mission that brought him to the end of one street, and the beginning of a sense of Ebberla's presence. Directly ahead, down the road he found himself on. His eyes became a little damp, and his breath caught before he pushed himself into the crowd, moving at a greater speed as he hurried towards the figure.

He wasn't foolish in his haste though. His saber was close at hand, hidden in the folds of his black robes, ready for combat should this prove a particularly cunning trap. But no. That wouldn't be necessary. There she was. With a small child held close to her. As he plunged past the throng of people, heedless of the attention they paid him, he smiled, wide and pleased.

"Hello Ebbs."

 

[GABA]

A sly smirk broke across her lips as a fist went to rest on her hip and the fingers of her other hand instinctively ran through her sleeping baby's hair.

"I think if you arrived any later, my daughter would be standing in my stead instead. But holy Hutt balls, could you be any slower?" Ebb jabbed, "You missed all the party, I danced with Empress Erratic; gave an old Jedi Master an aneurysm, and pushed a watermelon through my lady parts, all while you were vacationing in wild space or where ever you call it now." Ebb hissed at Khai; she took in a deep breath, realizing she was drawing eyes. With a simple nudge of the Force, she would become invisible to the nosy individuals who passed.

"But! Thank the Corellian gods you are back, I have missed you greatly." Ebb replied with a warmer smile. She wrapped an arm around his waste and pulled him into a walk down the street to look less inconspicuous to the average onlooker.

"Maybe it is a good thing you have come back now, things are getting warmer, and not in the sense that light is prevailing unfortunately."

 

[Cale]

Khaimov accepted the rebuke from the Grand Master without comment, simply bowing his head a little to indicate shame and acceptance. Once she shifted tone and wrapped her arm around his waist, he gently dropped his over her shoulder and smiled back. It was truly a relief to be home, as it were. Even if things were beginning to boil over, again. This time he'd be here, and perhaps that might make the difference. Perhaps.

"The task you set me is done. Which is part of where I was. But I agree. Things are shifting. Chaos and bloodshed are coming. I can feel it." He watched the people as they walked, occasionally smiling fondly, in an almost paternal fashion.

"So what is her name? And how in all the Corellian Hells did I miss you being pregnant? I know it felt like I was gone for four years. but I'm fairly certain not that much time has passed." He may have been making faces at the baby as he said that, but we're not going to confirm or deny. "In a way, my absence has been beneficial. I'm stronger now, Ebberla. Possibly even wiser. But certainly, I have learned more than you might think."

 

[GABA]

Ebberla listened to Khai attentively, Vida had started to stir, obviously woken by her own child curiosity that there was another present in their company. The sun sat high in the mid-afternoon sky and Vida squinted her eyes at Khai, smiling eventually as she figured out his faces were made in jest. Ebberla adjusted her child in her arms, to hold her active child. Ebbs recalled the task that was set for him by her and she knew he spoke of truth that he completed what he was sent to finish. She always knew he held his innocents, but knew it would not put him to rest until that chapter closed for him.

Regardless, she was glad he was back.

"Not many knew I was pregnant. After Anoth, the Empress knew, I had to lay low as much as I didn't approve." Explained the Grand Master, "Though, admittedly, I enjoyed catching those off-guard who thought I would be increasingly helpless as the months passed." She grinned slyly, but it would quickly disappear.

"I am glad you were not at Anoth, do not feel regret for not helping. I see that your path had taken you elsewhere for the time, and with your return, you still carry a strong sense of hope that many had crushed since the attack. We're springing back, but doubt still creeps and I hope that wisdom you gained is enough to see through it." Ebb explained.

 

[Cale]

Khaimov grinned along with Ebberla at the thought of anyone assuming she was helpless, even when pregnant. Especially when pregnant. Give her something to protect, and she would prove to be a mother bear; fierce, unyielding and unmerciful to those who threatened her cubs. And when you took into consideration her strength in the Force, she was never unprotected or unarmed. The Force was their ally, after all, and none could take that from them. At least not as far as he knew. He had never faced the Empress in all her might.

If he had, he might be a little more afraid.

As it was, he may be one of the few that still held hope for the future. Perhaps it was the Force itself that had kept him from Anoth, to keep hope alive. If that was the case, he could do nothing less than spread that hope, first to the Jedi, and then, through them, to the rest of the Galaxy. THis would be his new purpose. He would teach, and lead as best he could, and help reforge the Jedi.

"I will serve, Ebberla. In any manner I can. But do not be afraid of doubt. Doubt can help set us on the path to right action, where self-righteousness and zeal may lead us astray."

 

[GABA]

Ebberla grinned.

"Good Khai, you have grown. I'm glad, perhaps one day you'll grow enough you can take my spot as Grand Master." Ebberla patted Khai's back as they walked down the street. Vida was getting restless in Ebb's arms as she tried to squirm out from her grip.

"The tragedy of Anoth will be with us forever, but we will press on and persevere as we have, but now wiser than before." explained Ebb, "And that is will the Sith has underestimated us."

Ebberla was confident in her statement, she and others have pushed through the growing darkness in the galaxy. Though at times it seemed like the battle would never end as the Force became ever saturated with corruption and disillusionment.