The Golden Age

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Onderon was perhaps the most exciting assignment that Castor had ever managed to have and considering his current job consisted of spaceport security, watching over new arrivals with the Force to check for Force sensitives, that probably said something about the other postings that he had actually had in the past.

Sometimes the truth of being a Sith was that you were so very, very, bored perhaps 80% of the time and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it.

At least the people of Onderon were fun to talk to, even if the beast riders were freaky. At the very least the people seemed to be of a friendly sort. No one questioned what Imperial officers were doing in a restaurant, no one caused a scene.

If the Onderonians disliked their presence then that was all well and good but it honestly seemed as if they liked them. He paused as he felt something in the Force, something like... like singing or, at the very least, humming, through the Force.

"Stop everyone coming off that ship." he told the regular police, "Something... someone is setting off some alarms."

Alarms wasn't quite the right word but he didn't have an alternative.

@umbra

 

[Holli Harper]

Holli Harper was neither a wanted criminal nor a tourist. Nevertheless, she stepped out of the ship with a great deal of trepidation. Among a crowd of different cultured beings, she was just another alien to this place, just another strange being.

And quite the strange thing she was. Tall and slender and pale as snow, with a human face and yet the wings and legs of a bird, she appeared almost like a chimera compared to the smoothly formed people around her. Moreso out of place was that she seemed without purpose. There was no assurance in her footing, no knowledge of where her steps were taking her.

Eyes of shining azure took in all that surrounded her, with the deepest curiousity, as if the most mundane of objects held mystery to her.

Her head turned and her body followed as she gazed upwards at the sky, open-mouthed. For there loomed Onderon's Moon, the Jungle of Dxun - so close that they even shared sky with one another.

As she turned, and walked the barest of steps, it became apparent - apparent that it was her whom the humming followed, and yet none other seemed to notice. None other seemed to care.

She reached up with her wing, the very tip of her feathers brushing out against open air, and - with a voice clear and gentle as the spring's morning breeze, she let out a single note of her own before speaking;
"Brothers two, sharing all, one big, one small," she spoke quietly to herself, almost as if unaware of the others around her beginning to stare.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Well if that wasn't just a beacon telling him exactly who was responsible, he wasn't sure what was.

There was a xeno, an alien he had never actually encountered the species of actually, who was humming in the Force and then started humming and then speaking herself. The only reason he heard was because the rest of the damn spaceport had gone deathly silent upon realising that it was a Sith asking for everyone to stop moving. The rest of the people moved away from Holli, making it rather easy for Castor to see exactly who it was.

He started to make his way towards her, his hands resting on his lightsabers but not actually drawing them at all yet. Instead he just frowned a little bit as he approached.

"You there - girl." he called out to her, eyes narrowed slightly, "What are you doing?"

As he grew closer he clarified.

"You're... humming. Explain yourself."

@umbra

 

[Holli Harper]

It took Holli a fair moment to notice the crowd parting around her and the young man walking towards her. To him, she turned and smiled, her azure eyes shining with welcome.

Coming closer to her made much about her more clear, her hair appearing to actually be down, while her clothes were very thick and with several layers. It was almost warm standing near to her.

She folded her wings demurely by her side and stood to her full height, almost meeting him eye to eye before speaking;
"I do not hum sir, I sing," she said. Indeed, her voice alone had a songlike quality to it, each syllable a note, every sentence a phrase.

"As for my purpose, sir, I travel where I am guided, seeking something I know not yet what," she explained.

Standing close to her, one could hear the song - if one had the ears to listen - and feel a gentle pull towards the sky, and towards the Jungle of Dxun. The girl herself was little more than a spark within the force, or a seed, or perhaps the pebble that would one day become a mountain. The song came from without her, almost as if her scarf was weaved with fibers of the force itself.

"'tis rude to speak with no name given. I am Holli Harper of the Aria. I come seeking this moon," she spoke with something reminiscent of a bow before pointing once more to Dxun.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

She was... rather open.

In the same sense that a paper book could be called open when was left lying open in the middle of a desk. If this xeno was any more open he would likely be reading her thoughts like words in a book. As it was, it was just easy to see how she was reacting to any given thing. His eyes narrowed as he came closer, watching as she folded away her wings.

He kept an eye on her wings... he wasn't found of birds or insects with wings. They had always kind of freaked him out a bit as a child it had to be said.

"Well there's humming coming from your person. Not doubting that you're singing but there's humming from something and..." he paused, cocking his head to one side and listening, "Yes... it's louder the closer I am to you."

He blinked a few times.

"Castor Chume'da-Volante." he introduced himself with a frown, "Of the Sith... and you're looking for... a moon?"

Shaking his head a little bit, he waved for her to follow him and began to head towards one of the interrogation rooms.

"Alright Holli... I can feel the Force. I Know there's something humming in the Force... so what is it?"

@umbra

 

[Holli Harper]

It wasn't unusual for Holli to feel cold. Her home planet was a tropical place, where her people followed the spring. So suffice it to say that almost every planet otherwise was comparatively chilly.
However, this cold was unusual. It seemed almost to emanate from the young man, accompanied by a deep thrumming - an almost pained sound and almost indistinct,

Still, she had no reason to deny his questions.

"Is Sith your species?" She asked first, her curiousity piqued. "You know... Like 'Bith' but with an 'S.'"

At first, she had been following him - matching his pace with almost disturbing accuracy, however quite suddenly she paused - and then ran around in front of him, standing awfully, uncomfortably close.

Her eyes were the brightest of blue. Up this close, they almost shone with an eager light.

"You hear the song?" She asked in an almost reverent whisper. "You hear it?"

She stepped back as suddenly as she had stepped forward, reaching into her scarf as she did. From it, she produced a gem. A small, symmetrical gemstone, this of a deep verdant green.

"I was lead here in song. To this place, perhaps even... to you," she explained, looking to him with wide eyes and the most curious of gazes.

@Nefieslab

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

What the hell was this girl, bird, person doing? She was acting like she was high on some very strong spice or something and it was beginning to get a bit weird for him. He blinked a few times when she asked if he was a Sith, as in the species of Sith. Was she touched in the head or something?

Or was she actually a child?

He'd never met a bird-person before so he honestly wasn't sure what was going on here. Still, he decided to play along because it got her to follow him.

"... no, I'm a Hapan." he told her honestly, "It's a type of human - usually have blonde hair like I have. Sith is what I do and who I am. Kind of like a job."

By the gods it was like he was speaking to a child... she was probably a child now that he thought about it.

And suddenly she was in front of him and Castor had drawn his lightsaber on instinct, though he hadn't ignited it. Instead he just stood there for a moment as she looked at him closely and he returned the favour.

"I hear humming in the Force." he admitted bluntly, "It's loud and it's annoying."

And sounded vaguely judgemental.

She was holding a kyber crystal.

He grabbed her by her hand, closing his hand over the crystal as well, before dragging her into the interrogation room.

"TURN OFF THE CAMERAS." he roared at the technical staff, waiting until the cameras were off before turning back to Holli, "Put that back in your bag or scarf or whatever... do you understand what you're holding?"

Considering how young and naive she was? She might not. Hell, he wasn't sure either. It was a glowing crystal though so he wasn't taking any chances, even if the chances of it being a kyber crystal were low.

@umbra

 

[Holli Harper]

"Hapan? Gracious, what oddities of names there are," she spoke chearfully.

It seemed to be that she was unaware of the discomfort that she was causing him, 'nor the annoyance. Moreover, she was more than happy to follow along with him. It was as if the concept of fear or suspicion were beyond her.

"I have met many a human, but never a Hapan," she added, rather without point or reason.

Then the conversation turned - rather suddenly and violently in another direction. Her own overexcited-ness almost seemed to catch on in him as he took her by the wing.

In lieu of arms - and indeed hands - all that he caught was a handful was a handful of feather and down, all as white as snow, and soft as clouds. She was delicate too, fragile even, as light as paper with so little weight behind her movements that she may as well be a spring breeze.

The sudden contact elicited a chirp of surprise from her, as sharp as a bell's chime. Another when he shouted.

"Do I know? Well absolutely!... Not," she said, giving him a smile of resigned bewilderment. "We Aria don't keep records, and there's nothing in the songs about these."

"I just know they're special. Really, really quite special. I have seen no gem like these, nor any such that sing," she explained, all with that selfsame smile.

As he advised, she put the crystal away, the crystal held twixt two of her feathers until it fell into a pocket - one of a multitude that lined the inside, and many of them full.

"I honestly don't know sir. It's why I'm traveling, to find more information, to learn where it is their song truly leads," she explained to him, her voice only cheerful.

@Nefieslab[/QUOTE]