The Call

[Aila Roas]

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A Jedi.

She was a Jedi now.

It had been no so long ago she had finally believed in them, finally took the plunge and left the Empire, seeking a life different from what she had always known, a better way people might be. She was beginning to find it.

Even after her imprisonment, the Alliance had come back for her. A Jedi, had come back for her, brought her into the fold. She was still fresh, still new, the Force was a thing Aila was only just beginning to understand, and yet, the more she moved about the galaxy, the more she seemed to find it everywhere, beneath every stone, every star, every being she came into contact with it was always there, binding it all together.

It was intoxicating, feeling it envelop her senses, something she longed for the joy of when she could tap into it. And here on Devaron, it was like an open vein, the Force calling so strongly here. It was a juncture of sorts, a meeting point for strands of the Force, converging here. So, at least, she had discovered.

She still carried the holo-recordings with her, the voices of those ancient Jedi teaching her even when others did not have the time. They mentioned this place, where the 'Exiles', as the Sith once were, had revealed themselves in force, where duels had been had between the greatest wielders of their day. A place of mystery, and now, a place for her.

Aila's eyes were closed to the world, but her feelings open, sitting in the centre of the ruined mediation retreat beneath the surface, pieces of metal whirled about her. A handle, a switch, a crystal, her soul constructing what would be the ultimate symbol of her new life: A Lightsaber.

Not too long ago she could not have imagined herself even touching one. Now, she built it herself.

But, unbenounced to her, she was not the only one who found themselves on this lost world.

@Pontus

 

[Callum Attar]

History. It certainly had an important place in his life, but Callum rarely sought these ruins out. History was meant to be experienced, they said, and in coming to these places, that was very clearly true. The Force that oozed out of this place seemed to tell incredible stories of spilled blood, sweat and tears. Life and love, and death and loss.

But it was easy to lose oneself in its pages, he thought. Yesteryear always seemed better than today, because regardless of where you were getting your information from, it all happened within the mind, and so was firmly within one's control. It was easy to conveniently forget their plights, in favour of those that haunted you now. In the Coruscantian's mind, the purpose of History, was to learn enough of it that you wouldn't repeat it. That, was the maxim that had allowed the man to brave the treacherous societies within the Empire and reach as far as he had, and what would allow him to supplant his previous self and stand on greater heights.

Still. Perhaps it was because he'd fought to defend Korriban. And because they'd lost. He felt a little in need of care. So, without much thought behind it, the man got on his ship and came to this desolate place, in search of some spiritual enlightenment. To draw from the Force stories the Force told and find wisdom therein. Something which could strengthen his mettle and allow him to continue braving his path.

@Nightfall

 

[Aila Roas]

Exhaling, she felt the pieces vibrate together, each one after the other finding its place within the whole, a pure, clean piece that the Force had seemed to guide her to creating. This was hers, a true symbol of this life she embarked on now.

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A click, a slide, as each piece fell together onto the other and finally found their form. A lightsaber.

Opening her eyes, she felt the world suddenly, and sharply, rush back into focus as her senses rushed back into her body, blade hovering at her hands before her. It was done. But her time on Devaron would not be.

The ruins here stretched beyond the ones she saw now, the recordings described rooms and tunnels that ran beneath the jungles surface. There was still secrets down here, still mysteries to be discovered. Would it be something that could help the Alliance? Or just a test for her, surviving in this place would be challenge enough.

Getting down here had called on a new set of skills she was only just learning. Only her scraps of research before coming had let her recognise the symbols on the walls, the directions to this chamber. From here on out, the Force would be what guided her.

To that end, she reached out with her feelings, her mind stretching out into the planets, feeling the vergence, following its fronds to see where it led her next. But something, something felt different,

Something felt wrong.

A small tug in the back of her mind, the Dark Side. She had felt it unknowingly in the Sith many times, and now she knew what it was,

"Who's there?" she called into the darkness of the caves, snatching up her lightsaber and igniting it.

@Pontus

 

[Callum Attar]

Who would have figured that the Acolyte would feel the Force being used here, of all places. Immediately, he moved to inspect it. It hadn't been far off from where he was, and he had managed to get there just in time to watch the show. To think it would be this. - the man thought, his brain having immediately put two and two together. It hadn't been difficult, really.

Temple - or whatever was left of one - in the middle of nowhere, check. Lightsabre parts telekinetically coming together in some strange, ritualistic manner, check. Person now holding the weapon with a smile so pure and overjoyed it was child-like, check. As far as he was aware, they could only ever amount to one thing. This was an ancient Jedi practice. How quaint, he told himself in his mind, before furrowing his brow in distaste at the quintessentially aristocratic sentence he'd just thought of.

Either way, this was adorable. The Sith - or, at least, those who'd taught him in the Republica - never had placed that much emphasis into such traditions. He had learned how to dismantle and assemble these blades in such a way, yes, but it had been purely for practical purposes. Although the Force Users' trademarked weapons were some of the most powerful items in the Galaxy, nothing was truly invulnerable, and part of life as a practical man lied in knowing how to deal with these unexpected and improbable circumstances.

"Easy, there." - the Sith spoke, his tone calm and serene as always, and a charming smile on his lips, with just a hint of mischief to it. Callum had never known anyone to actually calm down when told to do so, and so to say this to what looked like a hopeful Padawan wasn't something he could pass up. On one side, he, the big bad Sith, would get to play the part of the one looking to avoid conflict and thusly out-Jedi-ing the lightsider, and on the other, he'd be further irritating these inner-peace seeking would-be monk, and poke a hole in their little belief system. Wasn't this the perfect situation? He was rather proud of himself for having thought of it, at least.

Still. Before the idealist now facing him went on to do something they'd both regret, it was probably best to nip this in the bud. He continued: "I've just seen you put that together, and I'm fairly certain that that was the first time you've done it."

A pause, to allow his words to properly sink in, the same disarming smile on his lips. They were far apart that he felt confident he could dodge anything sent his way. "That's a dangerous weapon. And the first thing that's going to happen if you try to use it before you're truly ready is that you're going to injure yourself. Or worse."

"So. How about we start over?" - the Coruscantian raised his hands to his side in a disarming display of I mean you no harm, his warm, cordial tone not having even flinched - "Hello. I'm Callum. And your are?" - a slight, polite and formal bow, while his hands left their previous display. His eyes had never left hers, though. It was imperative that she not get the drop on him.

@Nightfall

 

[Aila Roas]

Aila's fresh blade hummed next to her face as she held it close, the figure drawing in to the room and announcing themselves.

The trickle of light from outside was affected by the pulsing yellow of her lightsaber, freshly constructed. It even took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the presence of it, but it felt perfectly weighted in her hands, as if she'd wielded since she had entered the galaxy.

The figure, Callum, was slim, fine, and carried himself with a politeness that, at least for now, kept her on edge. She had believed she was alone, that, so deep in the jungle, her presence might have gone unnoticed. But Aila had been led here by clues and intuition, by the Force. Perhaps there was more to this moment,

"Aila" she said, her breathing heavy, nerves still high. She had little sympathy for the Sith, not after she had been treated by them, having experienced first hand what she knew they did to so many. Even with so much of the Empire in shambles, it was a cold comfort to her, and didn't take away the sting. Lowering her weapon, though still keeping it lit, she continued,

"I've met others with their own lightsabers before, I know what they do" her voice faltered a little, but she needed the brave face for now. Still, she would make the next move in this little line of questioning, her words dropping slowly as she composed herself,

"But I know my purpose here, what brings you beyond your borders?"

@Pontus

 

[Callum Attar]

A quizzical eyebrow was raised at the woman's words, and Callum had waited until she'd said her piece before speaking himself. Upon noticing that she'd lowered her blade, he leaned his shoulder against a tree, furthering this display of a casual situation, acting in order to devalue and defuse the situation.

"It is nice to meet you, Aila." - the Acolyte said, having chosen to ignore the more pressing why are you here? question, in favour of continuing the introductions. A moment of thought elapsed, while the Coruscantian let out a fainly audible "Hmm" before continuing.

"Everyone knows what lightsabres do. They burn, and they cut." Here, his normally carefree way had begun to take a turn for something a tad more serious. "And yet, to use one takes years of effort. Blood, sweat and tears. To reduce it in such a way may be fine for your everyday people, but if you want to start carrying that around, you'll need to come to terms with what it means."

Strangely enough, despite the sharpness in his words, the man retained some level of affection in his voice. He sounded like a concerned older sibling offering up a lesson. "That day will come, I'm sure. But these things take time."

Another beat of silence elapsed. The Sith continued to make eye-contact, breaking it only to take in his surroundings and make certain that this woman wouldn't try to pull something on him. Still, despite the seriousness in his previous words, all of which was genuine - this was a man who believed that whether one chose co call oneself Jedi or Sith, there needed to be things to do, ways in which to act that wouldn't shame the History their ancestors had fought and bled to build - the disarming smile remained.

"As for my purpose..." - another pause, as he considered what to say; though it had been a question anyone would've expected, the simple truth was he'd come here in a spur of the moment thing and hadn't given much thought as to why, and now was the time for some soul searching, because he felt like the answer might bear meaning - "I have studied the Force ever since I was a child. Is it truly so odd that I would choose to visit a place like this?"

@Nightfall

 

[Aila Roas]

Aila listened to the man, as... polite as he was, his words rang ever so condescending. She knew she was a novice though, so no matter how she felt she knew it wasn't entirely unwarranted, she had no plans of locking blades anytime soon for that same reason.

It appeared though that, neither did the Sith. A small comfort, but one she would need to lean on, if she meant to dive deeper into the ruins around them,

"I guess not, you can feel it better than I can I imagine" she said, her voice finally calm. If they could approach this together she wouldn't say no. Sith or no, she had taken on her own mantle, and that meant giving them the benefit of the doubt, believe that not all were so heartless just because of their titles. That was part of being a Jedi, and given her experiences with the Empire it wasn't coming as naturally as her instructors might have hoped. Still, she had to try,

"I'm... looking for something here" she admitted, reaching to her satchel and drawing out the holorecords of the ancient Jedi "A text, somewhere here beneath the surface" Aila let the hologram appear, the figure of Master Vollen Shai appearing, his words hinting at some artifact in the Devaron ruins,

"If you mean to explore the Force, perhaps we can be of use to eachother?"

@Pontus

 

[Callum Attar]

Well, this had been a strange turn of events. While Callum had vaguely been implying that a peaceful resolution was the better option, he hadn't actually thought the woman would ever come to agree so quickly. It remained true that he was, in all likelihood, the superior combatant, and as a result a fight wouldn't be in her best interests, but either way, perhaps this Aila had some Jedi in her after all.

Things took an even weirder turn when the woman volunteered a holorecording of a Jedi of old, and one that implied that an artifact might be hidden in this location. Callum had encountered many things, but he didn't believe he'd ever come across a token of the defunct Jedi civilisation like that. Unlike many of his Sith kin, this Acolyte did not see himself as a sole pursuer of the Dark Side of the Force. To him, being Sith meant having a wider range of options. So the possible information that this hidden treasure might possess certainly peaked his interest.

After a moment's worth of thought, where he silently judged this woman he'd never before seen, the Coruscantian finally spoke: "As long as you allow me to study it if we do find it, I would gladly help you in your search."

@Nightfall

 

[Aila Roas]

It was the Jedi way to avoid a fight, as best as they could. But that did mean compromise, often, and sometimes detrimentally. Whether this was a situation to push back, it was hard to tell. And until they saw the artifact, Aila didn't know if this was a hill worth dying on. She didn't even know if it was a piece of Jedi history, or something older. But if it had been kept within the Temple she could be damn sure it had something to do with the Force, and she wasn't about to pass up seeing it. All her days studying and burning Jedi artifacts for the Empire left her desperate to preserve what she could.

It would be interesting to see how it all went down.

Switching off the hologram, she snapped her head back to her interlocutor,

"We'll see what we find, but I like to think we can do something agreeably. Our peoples are enemies, we don't have to be" not at the moment, anyway. She kept her words coy though for now. Generous as the she might have wanted to be, an interaction with a Sith was a dangerous one, and after so many run ins, well, she could be forgiven for being suspicious,

"In which case, we need to go down. Into the deep, dark, and likely trap filled temple ruins" she said with a hint of humour,

"Sounds fun, right?"

@Pontus

 

[Callum Attar]

The woman had had her lightsabre ready to fight, and had taken serious convincing to so much as get her to quit using it, even though she knew she lacked the proper training. Now she expected him to believe she wanted to make friends? It was adorable, really, watching her try to bull-shit a bull-shitter. Still, his smile remained cordial as ever, and the man offered a gentle and polite nod.

"Could not have put it better myself." - he mentioned, referring to the ceasefire Aila had proposed.

Then came the mention of descending into the temple, and the peril it no doubt faced. Either of them would be surrounded by danger, and they wouldn't exactly have each other to count on, regardless of how many pleasantries they exchanged, right now. Still, the idea sounded interesting. A possible ancient Jedi artefact had peaked his interest, and having the woman there only added a dash of danger into the mix. Normally, Callum abhorred placing himself in danger for no reason, but he'd come here in search of a spiritual journey, and this felt like it might just be it.

The Coruscantian's eyes glanced around the visible ruins, and an almost gleeful exhale escaped him. The woman seemed to be expecting some kind of answer, and he never was particularly good at these things. He was a reader, though, and so a quote came to him, in this hour of need. This was not exactly the time nor the place for it, but he'd say it more to reassure his having come here than offer the strange woman any form of comfort.

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."

@Nightfall

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