Taking a breath

[Schwarz]

A starfighter landed in Anoth hangar, that was the ship of the man known as Cross Vanhler, a padawan of the order, he was returning of his last mission. Indeed his life has been eventful, since many knights and padawans were killed in Coruscant and all over the galaxy by the Empire. The council felt the necessity of sending padawans to do many works, even the dangerous ones.

He was very tired, he needed a rest.

Walking toward the exit of the hangar, he went to a place where many Jedi used for meditation and rest, where they could sit and just look the landscape. With a fruit in his right hand he arrived there, chewing a bit of that food and looking his surroundings, could not see anyone there, however that place was very popular, so for sure someone would arrive soon or later.

His mind was very concerned, he heard that the Jedi should leave Arbra and that were planning go to Bakura, but the worst was that the Empire had decreed a Jedi Hunt all over the Galaxy. Those days were truly dark days for Jedi and were becoming worst day after day.

On that moment Cross merely closed his eyes for an instant, to release his fears and anxieties, just being in touch with the Force.

 

[Compassion]

The reconstructed fields outside the Jedi Enclave on Anoth was a place well regarded for its peacefulness and beauty on what used to be such desolate land. Lucanté liked to meditate among the grass and the trees on the field's plain; he imagines how this part of the planet was before the Jedi began its minor restoration and how it most probably looks along the rest of the planets surface. He concluded that he and this planet shared one similar characteristic; if it wasn't for the Jedi, they'd both feel alone.

Lucanté had pushed back most of the memories of when he left Coruscant as a young children, so far back he struggled to recall them from his sub-conscience through fear that he may once again feel the pain that haunted him as they heard the bombardment of the planet's surface begin. From then, Lucanté isolated himself and if it wasn't for the Jedi pushing his studies he wouldn't speak to anyone. He certainly wouldn't choose to speak with them if he could help it, he preferred his studies and listening to his own thoughts.

He returned from a brief trip to what was left of the once Great Jedi Archive, he'd been re-clarifying his knowledge of the basic ideology behind Niman. He returned back to the garden to continue his meditation, when he noticed the figure near his favourite spot. He was too close to turn around and go back inside; he'd be showing ignorance, an attribute greatly frowned upon by the Jedi. His anxiety started to pick up, he considered all the possibilities this encounter could have: would it be ignorant to not converse? Would the figure make conversation, or would he himself have to initiate it? Or would he just walk past him, a simple "good day" and they'd both get on with their business? Lucanté didn't like awkward situations, and he was in one..

 

[-B-]

Skrit-thump. Skrit-thump. Skrit-thump.

The sound, stilted and uneven, echoed quietly throughout the halls of the Hidden Temple of the Jedi on Anoth. There was little other noise: the gentle hum of overhead lighting for those who could hear it. For those adepts of the Force who walked the halls, there was a silent, grand sense of wonder to behold, one that was not diminished by the gently limping Padawan favoring his right leg. The soft soles of his boots brushed the fine, smooth floors of the corridor - skrit - before landing unceremoniously on the ground, slightly limp - thump.

Kol Davram, Padawan of the New Jedi Order, has lightly injured himself earlier that day while attempting to perform an acrobatic landing, his knee not able to support his weight as he landed. It had twisted and popped awkwardly, bolts of pain shooting like liquid fire to his brain. To Kol now, the pain was something distant from the rest of his body, like a dull buzzing that pulsed every time he lifted his leg. He was able to suppress the pain through mental serenity; what disconcerted him was how his lower leg did not seem to respond properly.

As such, he made his way to a courtyard garden with an impressive vista of the countryside surrounding the Temple, a favorite of many of the Padawan and Jedi Knights in residence at the Temple. Oftentimes, it was deserted, but this sojourn saw not one but two fellow Jedi in the courtyard: one, with eyes closed, perhaps in meditation, the other, younger than Kol. Kol thought that the younger had a bit of an awkward stance to him, while the other looked a bit worn down from travel. It was his immediate instinct to turn heel and retreat, but two things stopped him: the one being that the Masters at the Temple had always said that Kol needed to attempt to form connections with his fellow Padawans, in order to strengthen his connection to all living things and therefore the Force. The second was more mundane: his knee was very tight and performing a revolution would most likely get the younger's attention any way.

He sighed inwardly, resigning himself to this. He took a few uneven steps, pain pulsing to his hindbrain yet long forgotten, until he had passed the youthful, brown-haired Jedi, nearly half a foot shorter than Kol. He raised his hand in greeting, and in his soft-toned voice in a carrying manner, he said: "Greetings, fellows."

Simple and to the point, he thought ruefully.

 

[Schwarz]

During his meditation, Cross felt by the force the arrival of someone, surely a Padawan that just arrived there, however when he opened his eyes he saw a person that he didn’t knew yet. Cross was always trying to make new friends, as well as bringing people together, so when that Padawan approached more, without any hesitation, Cross promptly said “Hi my friend, this is really a peaceful place, right” while he was looking into the horizon “This is one of the few places that makes me feel at home, this Galaxy isn’t anymore a receptive place for Jedi… We must hide ourselves; we must be sneaky and always be very careful…”

With a deep sigh he turned his eyes to the Padawan “I’m just tired of this, however I still believe in the Council, and I know that soon we will rose again and return the peace to the Galaxy, because we’re the peacekeepers, the Galaxy need us, they need someone that go against Sith domination...” finally he completed, changing the deeper look of his face to a happier look, “Sorry, I almost forgot, I’m Cross Vanhler, nice to meet you! You’re?”

When he finished say that words they saw a man arriving. Cross nodded to his greet and answered “Greetings my friend! How are you?” but Cross felt that something was wrong with him, maybe some corporal pain, so he reformulated his question, saying “Are you alright? Can I help you?”

 

[Compassion]

The man came across as rather 'full-on' to Lucanté. He was straight in there, asking questions and expressing his opinion but the fact he had at least attempted to converse with him made him feel slightly more comforted. He listened as the man hastily spoke to him, almost as if he was excited to finally be socializing with someone. Although he struggled to get a word in, Lucanté tried his best to not come across as ignorant and nodded in agreement with the majority of the mans speech. The man is probably a misleading term; he was older and a lot more mature than Lucanté but he still had age on his side.

“I’m just tired of this, however I still believe in the Council, and I know that soon we will rose again and return the peace to the Galaxy, because we’re the peacekeepers, the Galaxy need us, they need someone that go against Sith domination...” These words gave Lucanté a warm feeling inside, he applauded the man for his passion and belief that the Jedi will rise above the Sith's domination. But Lucanté sensed other motives within this man's speech, Cross Vahler he introduced himself as. He sensed a personal motive, rather than just the idea of them fighting on the opposites of two sides. Many Jedi had lost both family and even home worlds to the Sith's destruction, it was no surprise to find bitter hatred towards them throughout the members of the order.

"Er, I'm Lucanté. N-nice to meet you.." He quickly bowed his head to mask the sense of disappointment upon his face. His first words to a guy and he stutters; not the best start.. Cross did not seem to notice and Lucanté quickly looked up as he saw Cross turn his attentions to another a being behind him.

A youngish Jedi but still older than Lucanté, around the same age as Cross with short dark hair. He looked well honed for combat in stature, he seemed like the kind of guy who knew his way around a fight. However he showed a less intimidating side when he cast his greetings towards Cross and himself. The man looked in pain, uneven and struggled as he walked; a damaged knee perhaps?

"Hello.." A short reply followed by a respectful bow of the head. It wasn't much of an introductory speech, but it was damn sure better than a nervous stutter..

 

[-B-]

Kol flicked his eyes between the two warily as he raised and lowered his leg skrit-thump. He made a dismissive gesture with his hand towards the elder Jedi, scuttling slowly but surely across the garden to a raised stone bench, not yet touched by the soft caress of age. It was a testament to the newness of this Temple; how recently in the Jedi's history that they had founded this hidden retreat from the Galaxy that had become his home. Kol thought of Duro and there was that familiar sense of emptiness in his heart, like a cold needle made of void had pierced his heart.

Kol sat down promptly, not on the bench, but next to it, turning towards it and raising the effective leg up above his body, resting the leg on the bench and feeling a good deal of relief. He could tell his expression had softened as he turned his body towards the others. A small, nearly silent sigh escaped his list, as his obliques stretched out, as not to be rude. He hated it when he was unintentionally rude to people, be they regular or his Jedi comrades. Always polite in speech but hardly polite in demeanor, Kol had been lately making a conscious effort to be more welcoming, more approachable. Had his efforts finally paid off?

"That's better. Just needed a bit of lift off it for a tick," he said quickly, looking from one's eyes to the other. "Name's Davram, by the way. Kol Davram, he added after a moment.

 

[Schwarz]

Cross could not see someone suffering at his side and stay just watching, his heart has been filled with compassion and care by his fellow Jedi that he could try something, maybe he could try the Force Healing, something that he learned many years ago, but hadn’t too much opportunities to practice. Quickly recalling his former master's teachings about that skill, Cross would try.

He wasn’t an expert in Force Healing, but the little that he knew surely would help Kol walk better and few less pain, then Cross closed his eyes and went into a meditative state, he focused the force into Kol’s leg, finally he saw, thru the force, the twisted knee, once detected the source of the pain, Cross could force heal the twist. However, the bruise would not be completely healed, yet Kol would be able to walk without pain, as well as do slow moves.

Opening his eyes again, Cross said with a smile “My friend, now you will be able to walk again without pain, but take care to not do any abrupt movement yet, because I only reduced the internal wound, and it can worse if you be careless. By the way, what happened with you?”

He was happy in help that man, even without yet knowing Kol; he was satisfied for being able to successfully use the technique that he learned many years ago. However, something that he surely should have in mind was that he should do further training in Force Healing, a very worthy and precious skill, which deserved his time and efforts.

 

[Compassion]

Lucanté felt rather sorry the Jedi, he seemed in pain. He watched on as he walked around and sat beside the bench, using it to prop his leg up and keep it held up. The man seemed rather rude, he'd ignored both the Jedi who'd asked if he was ok but Lucanté understood. Kol Davram, as he introduced himself, was in too much pain for pointless questions. He had to get comfortable first and Lucanté appreciated that.

He watched on in wonderment as Cross went into a focused meditative position. What was he to do? He continued to observe as the Padawan used his hands to aid in Kol's healing process. He was amazed. He'd read about he Force Heal ability that many Jedi Healers had mastered, but he'd never seen it in use during his time in the Order. A very interesting ability indeed.

 

[-B-]

The warmth spread through his knee first, like a steaming raindrop had fallen from the ruined sky of Anoth to heal him. It then spread, like the inside of his knee was being filled with warm, yet not too hot, viscous liquid that zeroed in on the muscles of his knee, before disappearing, taking the buzzing at the base of his brain stem with it. Gingerly, Kol pulled his knee toward himself, and found himself pleasantly surprised: there was no difficulty in pulling it up.

He swung his other knee up and flexed the muscles in the core of his body, pulling himself up before sliding on the stone bench to a sitting position, which is found to be quite comfortable.

"That's got to come in handy," Kol said as he tentatively flexed his knee, taking in the Jedi's words passively before realizing he was being asked a question. "Oh, that. Well, I was trying to perform a leap from a five-foot platform to a ten-foot platform and didn't get the timing right. My other foot slipped but before I hit the ground tucked itself in to minimize any other damage. This one?" - he shook his knee as he asked the rhetorical question - Not so quick or lucky. Guess that's how we learn.

His eyes caught the other Padawan watching the pair and (begrudgingly, in his mind) he shifted himself to one side of the bench, indicating their fellow take a seat, if he'd like.

 

[Schwarz]

Cross nodded silently while he saw his fellow Jedi with a happy look in his face. Maybe the deeper desire of every Jedi was just help and serve, even more another Jedi. The satisfaction of seeing a tear turning in a smile and the pain in joy was something that encouraged and motivated Cross to keep on and never give up, even with all adversities surrounding him.

“Thanks, I’ll accept the seat” Cross at Kol’s side and asking to them “Well my friends, I never saw you before, at least while I’m in Anoth. So I need confess that I deeply appreciate all sort of stories, and hear your stories and how you arrived here, will make me very happy” the curiosity filled Cross heart, he was willing in know his partners more, hear their stories and become closer to them.

He noted that they weren’t very extroverted and spontaneous persons, surely they should be inspired to talk and proceed. But Cross was always ready to help people overcome their obstacles, fighting with them to destroy their most deadly challenges, their own fears.

Turning his eyes over the two, he asked with a smile “Then… Who will be the first?”

 

[Compassion]

“Well my friends, I never saw you before, at least while I’m in Anoth. So I need confess that I deeply appreciate all sort of stories, and hear your stories and how you arrived here, will make me very happy.”

Lucanté began to feel uncomfortable. He tended not to really speak of his past with others, particularly since he struggled to recall his memories of coming to the order. He'd repressed the memories back so far into his sub-conscious memory that he no longer thought up the memories of coming to the order. He just remembers the cold.. The cold feeling he felt upon the Jedi Vessel that brought him from Coruscant.

He felt uneasy to speak his story, with no offense to either of them. He shied away, hoping that one of the others would begin to tell their stories and forget about his presence amongst them..