To find, and not to yield.

[Pyre]

Six years.

She'd expected the estate to look different. She'd expected it to look the same. Expected it to be a charred mark on the landscape, an obvious target for the Imperial attack out of spite if nothing else. Expected...hoped, that it would be exactly as she had left it that day six years ago.

She found it more or less the last. There was damage, to be sure: the garden had several burned craters scattered throughout it, the walkway leading up to the building was changed by blaster fire. Poetically, her room had been struck by what she imagined had been a shipboard laser battery, and all that remained of the nice little space was char and ash mixed into the soil. The house droids had closed it off, unable to effect repairs on their own. The rest of the building was basically intact; enough so that she could hear the memories she had there as she walked through it, trailing fingers along the wall.

That was where Zelie had taught her to cook a traditional Naboo dish and she' only set it on fire once, thank you. That was where she'd clumsily painted something and gotten exasperated with the woman until she realized the point of the exercise. The last place they'd performed a morning routine together was still intact in the garden, and she could feel the lingering traces of affection, and love. Like remembered sunshine.

Sparks whistled low from the house, and she turned back towards the gold-colored astromech.

"I expect he'll be here soon, yes. Council members are busy, but there's something to be said for nostalgia."

Not even being facetious, as she said it. Rubbing her left arm for the twinge it was giving off again: she'd need to get it properly looked at and calibrated some time soon. But this came first. Meeting him, the last one she'd been the least bit close to before she functionally severed herself from the Jedi. The first one she wanted to talk to properly, as she tried to return.

She'd sent him a message, inviting him. Not directly of course, that wasn't a thing one did with Kai anymore, at least not one like her. But she'd sent it with a surety of it getting to him, and from there all there was to it was to wait. She felt sure, in that way that was more than a hunch. Something to be said for nostalgia, indeed.

 

[Ral]

Time sure had seemed to fly by for the still quite young Jedi Councilor. For the young, dark-haired, and still jovial Jedi Master, it felt like it had barely been a week since he had last been to this particular estate. Since he had last seen that pink-skinned Zeltron girl with whom he had shared his first kiss with. But in truth it had been over six years. Six long years fighting the Sith, dark Jedi, rogue force users, pirates, renegades, and slavers. In that time Kai had done things he wasn't proud of, and things he would cherish greatly. He had met, and lost, many friends, more than a few here on Naboo during the battle. That battle took a lot from him, just as it took a lot from Naboo. It scarred it's surface just like it scarred it him.

And now he was returning to the estate of a Jedi long dead. Of a friend long thought lost. No matter what, it seemed Naboo would be an important place for him. He hadn't expected to receive the message he did. He didn't think in a million years he'd hear from her again, asking him to meet her at Zelie's estate where he met her and spent time with her all those years ago. Looking out over the once again green pastures, he remembered their training session, and the kiss they shared. She wanted him to like her for her, not because she was a Zeltron with pheromones. He promised he liked her for her, and although he had hoped that she and him might be something, he quickly found that hope smashed when they discovered her master murdered in the nearby market. That drove Kess away from him and out of his life.

And now, she was back. Just maybe. She wanted to meet him, and he was more than eager to see her again after those long and lonely six years. He was, of course, wary that it was a trap, Kess could have gone Sith in those intervening years and now she was after some blood. But Kai had a feeling the invitation was sincere. At least he hoped it was, he wanted it to be so badly.

Walking up through the blaster scorched driveway, Kai walked into through the front doors, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, one hand almost ready to call his lightsaber to his hand, but not yet ready to actually make the move. Calling out he tried to see who was there. "Hello? Anyone here? Kess? Are you here?"

 

[Pyre]

"Hello sir! Welcome!"

One of the house droids. Rolling up to him with its cheerful synthetic voice, gesticulating with its manipulators.

"Mistress Kess awaits you in the garden!"

Easy enough to find, whether he followed the droid or made his own way. Easy enough to find her, standing there in the midst of the still-scarred greenery, waiting for him. Of course waiting for him, because of course she'd felt his arrival. Her red-tinged black hair was longer than it had been, hanging down to the middle of her back and tied loosely back with a yellow ribbon. Girlish contrast to the rest of her: well worn jacket, slightly ripped trousers, loose shirt. Boots that had seen a great deal of earth and metal and more beneath them. Lightsaber hanging there on her belt, within easy reach and deceptively lethal with its lovely design.

Kess herself was different too. For a heartbeat, Kai might think his fears of her being twisted to the dark side confirmed. Her essence was changed, a violent contrast to the sunshine and slashing rain that she had been before. The razor-sharp purity she'd possessed when last they met was gone. Kai had felt enough of the dark side in the past near-decade to be reminded of it in her aura, easily.

But she was no Sith. No Jedi wandering along a damned path, not anymore at least. The feel of her was more like scar tissue, long-healed over a deep wound. Ugly in ways, tragic in others. But stronger by far than what she had been before. No longer the disposable razor, but a finely honed blade.

And then she smiled.

"Hello stranger."

 

[Ral]

It was jarring at first to see Kess, to sense her again through the Force. Kai had followed the old droid, its joints creaking from lack of oil or maintenance during its years of stasis. Following it back out into the gardens of the estate, gardens that were still damaged from the battle that had occured around it. Walking out he saw her, standing there, waiting for him. It was almost dreamlike for the young Jedi as he saw his old friend once again.

Pausing to take her in he noted the ribbon in her hair, the worn and disparaged look of her clothing. Her body had filled out, he noticed. The curves she had now much more distinct, the clear bulge of toned muscle barely discernable in certain areas. Strong and still somehow beautifully feminine was Kai's thought. Of course, that wasn't all, Kai could sense her presence in the Force. She was the same and different all at the same time. No longer young and innocent, he noticed a dark stain on her soul, something she still carried with her. And for a moment he worried she had fallen, but then he realized, she was like a scar on the back of his hand. He knew the skin, but it had been wounded, changed, slowly healed, and made stronger for it. In truth her essence was probably much like his own, and much like many other Jedi. In fact, it was much like another Jedi, another Zeltron, whom Kai had spoken of to Kess before. That Jedi was Von Raythe, one of the few women who understood what it meant to take lives as Kai did. Kai, the man who bombed the palace on Coruscant, killing hundreds if not thousands of "innocents". All in the name of peace.

Standing there, she smiled at him, and he smiled back at her. Hearing her voice again was like an old record. He knew the tone, the sound, but it had changed with age and almost been forgotten. Without saying another word, Kai rushed forward, and unless threatened, he would wrap Kess in a tight embrace, almost disbelieving what he was experiencing at that moment. "Hey you!"

He grinned. He wanted to kiss her, thinking, perhaps naively, or just wishfully, that they could pick up again where they had left off. But he knew better than to think that. He had changed, and he was sure she had too. Who knew what they were like now, or if they still had the feelings they once shared. Clearing his throat he finally released her, and looking into those eyes of hers continued to grin. "H-How have you been?"

 

[Pyre]

She went tense when he darted forward. That ingrained reflex, immediate response to the potential of violence. But there was no threat in him, his essence or posture, certainly not his expression. So instead he hit her and wrapped arms around her, and hers closed more softly though no less firmly around him. She smelled good, like worn leather and light perfume and something indefinably friendly and trustworthy. She held herself back much less, these days.

Her left hand stroked down along the back of his head, and she sighed as they separated enough for him to grin at her. Sober cast to her expression, turned rueful and wry after she made some internal decision. She did not feel like lamenting, not here, not in this place.

"Well that's an awfully heavy question, given all the time to cover with it. The simple answer is terrible, sad, angry, desperately-comfort-seeking, horrible and heroic by turns. I wouldn't say happy, save in brief breaths. But getting closer to content. And you? I've heard such things..."

 

[Ral]

Kai enjoyed the moment, enjoyed sharing the embrace with Kess. Feeling her sigh he almost felt bad, like he was sharing in whatever sorrow she had experienced in her time away. As he looked into her warm amber eyes, he listened to what she said, almost wanted to interrupt, but didn't. He let her finish, and with a slight hint of a frown forming at the edges of his mouth nodded back at the Zeltron. Taking a deep breath when she asked about him, he smiled sadly at her and nodded. "Well, that is a bit of a question, now isn't it? I guess I'll take a note from you and save most of the boring stuff for later. But, uh... let's see. Well, I got promoted not long after you left..." He wanted to say how it was a shame she wasn't there, for he would have liked to see her face when he was promoted. "Then there was the battle for Naboo which I fought in. Other than training Padawans I did some battles here and there, more missions, helped to blow up a Sith building, and got again promoted for it! It's been a wild ride, that's for sure."

The young Jedi chuckled as he took Kess' red hands in his own, still looking into her amber eyes he remarked, "It's damn good to see you again, though. I, uh, wasn't sure if I'd see you again after... well, after our last meeting. Do you... wanna talk about anything? Maybe what brought you back here?"

 

[Pyre]

"See, that's what I heard about. A building and your name together in one rumor." It wasn't his promotion, but she looked at him proudly regardless, approving-expressioned-though-somber as she continued. "And it's that, actually, that brought me back here. Back to the Jedi."

She gave his hands a squeeze, then released them. Moving back two steps, and looking around them at the scarred garden. Silence, then speech after a few seconds.

"I wouldn't call the things I'm not detailing 'boring', by any stretch. But I've hardly been out there fighting the heroic Jedi fight." Her voice was less somber and more bitter now, sticking her hands into the pockets of her coat. "I went hunting. My own personal six-year safari. You'd be surprised how many lone Sith you can lure in to the worst situations purely by making a target of yourself." Her eyes flicked to him, looked him over. Weighing, thoughtful. "Or perhaps you wouldn't. It's supposed to have been an aspect of the Jedi order, multiple times through its history. Sith hunters. I'd like to say it took me until recently to see the contradiction in it, but that would be a lie."

Spreading her hands without taking them from her pockets, so the worn jacket opened with her palms in the simple little shrug. "I was at it a long time. I got real good at it, screwups and all." There she rolled her left shoulder, flexed her fingers in her pocket. "Even got good enough that I didn't have to kill the ones I caught. In straight duels, even!" Earnest one moment, then scuffing her boot at the dirt the next. "Couple that with what the Rebellion is finally doing, what we seem to be on the cusp of...well."

Eyes down. Then up again, serious and vulnerable and hard all at once. "I want back in. I want to help. And I'm done killing her for them."

Kess and her funny way of thinking and speaking: mixing the sharply down-to-ground with the philosophical speech she'd loved even back then.

 

[Ral]

"Hmm," Kai hummed slightly as she made a remark about him and a building. That was supposed to be a well-kept secret. Perhaps Kess only had bits and pieces, he hoped she only had a small vague idea of what he had done. He simply hoped that she knew enough to understand, but not enough that the Sith might know to place blame. Still despite his fleeting worries, he managed to smile when Kess gave him that look of hers. Bashfully he replied, "Well... I'm glad you're back then... I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel some proud happiness that I'm the reason you came back..."

With a somber smile he accepted the squeeze of her hands and allowed her to withdraw a little from him, watching her carefully, taking in her new form. After a few seconds of admiring the view, her view, Kai joined Kess in looking about the scarred and scorched grounds of the garden. Looking back to the Zeltron woman as she started speaking again, Kai couldn't help but notice how bitter her voice turned, and almost had to resist embracing her again. He knew better. As she stuck her hands in her pockets the young dark haired Jedi Master did his best to imagine what the last six years would have been like for Kess, out in the Galaxy on her own quest for vengeance. Nodding when she looked at him thoughtfully, he chuckled to ease his own tension. "Maybe, maybe not. You might be surprised the sort of things I've done over the years. In any case, yes, Sith hunters... sentinels, Shadows, the Jedi often searched the Sith to kill them. Perhaps not the most Jedi or idealistic role of the Order, but a necessary one nonetheless. If there's one thing I've learned its that the Jedi can't be cowed or bullied by the Sith. We must stand strong against them..."

Kai's voice drifted off, letting Kess resume or tale. Listening to her talk about how she got good at fighting, capturing, even killing Sith, Kai almost couldn't believe it, but then again he almost could. He wondered if she lost something when she mentioned her screw ups and rolled her left shoulder like she were massaging an old wound. Humming again when she talked about being on the cusp of something because of the Rebellion's efforts. Kai smiled which turned into a grin when Kess told him she wanted back in. Her last line confused him a little. "Killing her for them? You mean... you mean her?" Kai sighed, he wouldn't say what he wanted to say. "Well, I'm glad you're back. And you may certainly join the Order once more. I'm just... just worried. I don't want to lose you again, Kess."

 

[Pyre]

"Oh, don't give me that feeling." At his initial response, wry smirk playing across her lips. "The same rumors talk about half a dozen other people, at least two of them long-dead ancient heroes, or the whole of the Jedi order." Bits and pieces indeed. She listened after, and her look when he called the Hunters 'necessary' was complex. Her emotions clouded there, the feeling of openness receding until he'd finished saying she could come back. Asking her that justifiably confused question.

There was no mirth in the way the corners of her mouth turned up after. There was, however, a tremble through the Force. And Kai would be able to hear things. Someone who sounded an awful lot like Kess, though younger, talking to somebody else off to his left. A different voice, female and kind, in front of him and to his right. The same voice, saying 'Driven. That's a good word for you.' The ghost of grief and loss, like a display at a museum: the teeth removed and its fury absent but still terrible enough for you to appreciate exactly how awful a thing it had been in its time.

But then, Kai had been there for that. He'd held Kess through the screaming, and the tears.

The sensations ceased abruptly, fading in a breath to a faint echo, then nothing. Kess still stood there with that sad not-a-smile, shrugged her shoulders once more.

"More Sith have experienced loss than you'd think when you first learn about them. But they're not all so good at dealing with the sensations they inflict on other people, with their actions. Then again, few people are. That's a secret Zeltrons know that most others don't." And here one finger came up to her sad-smiling lips. "Shh. No telling."

 

[Ral]

"I'm sure they did," Kai gave a half-smile to Kess as she gave him that wry smile. Listening to the Zeltron's response as she spoke of Sith and the loss they often felt and experienced. He could only hum at that, he had some experience with Sith, or perhaps their best description would be former Sith. In any case, he could see the truth in Kess' statement, what he knew of those Sith it was that they both experienced loss and didn't know how to deal with it. They often inflicted that loss on others to help cover up their own emptiness, trying to fill it with selfish power and sadistic pleasure. Smiling at Kess as she told him that only Zeltrons knew that people didn't know how to deal with the things they inflict on others. "I won't I promise..."

Looking out over the fields, Kai reached out for one of Kess' hands. He wanted to give her a tug and motion to the rolling hills where they shared their first kiss. Whether or not she let him take her hand he would suggest, "Let's go for a walk. It'll be nice, like how it used to be when we were teenagers." He smiled and gave her a wink as he started off. It was almost wonderful to be with Kess again, to talk to her after all these years, not knowing if hed ever see her again. "Well, what's up? Anything you want to catch up on after six years? What do you think of the Rebellion's attacks?"

 

[Pyre]

Her hand was warm in his, and she gave his fingers a little squeeze. "Lead on."
She laughed a bit for his talking about their being teenagers again - they'd met all of thrice, before it ended. Had she really affected him so much? That thought prompted a softer squeeze, and her grip remained that little-bit-tighter as she walked after him, then ahead. Guiding him into and through the house toward the front, and the hills beyond.

She was silent for a time, in the face of his questions. Eventually though, "It always had to happen. Hunting villains might not be truly a Jedi way, but push any good person or people far enough, and they're eventually going to push back, and harder than you'd expect. I'm sad it took so long to get up this much momentum, but I'll take it."
Another pause, quiet thoughtfulness.
"Have many adventures out there with the Jedi and the Rebellion proper? Pretty girls, daring escapes? Defining moments? Show you mine if you show me yours."

Now that was more like when they were teenagers.

 

[Ral]

"Excellent," Kai answered as her warm red skin touched his as her fingers wrapped around his hand. Feeling her hand squeeze his reminded him of what happened before, and as though they were thinking the same thing she squeezed his hand again, holding on just a bit tighter. Leading him out of the estate, Kai followed Kess rather enthusiasticly, happy to have the chance to catch up with his old Zeltron friend. Whether or not she knew it she had played a rather important roll in his life, even if her participation up to that point had been relatively small.

As they walked out into the open, Kai intertwined his fingers with Kess' and just enjoyed the silence between the two of them. Not feeling awkward enough to break it. When Kess finally did speak up and answer the questions he had asked. Nodding at her answer he gave her a sad smile, "Yeah... yeah you're right. The Sith went on opposed for far too long. I always think that if the Jedi don't stand up to the villains, to the Sith and their cronies, then someone else will, and it's negligent and irresponsible to do that. Unfortunately, I was only rather recently promoted to the council, so I'm still trying to get things moving again."

Kai let out a hearty laugh when she asked him to show her his and she'd show him hers. That was the Kess he knew. With rosy cheeks he shook his head. "Lots." He remarked at first as he started to gather up a lot of stories from the past. "Well, there's been a lot of girls, though probably not what you think. I've tried to go on as many missions as possible. Boring stuff from evacuating a flooding planet, to negotiating for grain, to fighting on Naboo, in the streets of Theed and in the palace. I've busted slaving rings on Tatooine, a poaching group on Lamaredd, I was there when the Order nearly self-imploded on Endor when Grand Master Daw left. I've fought dark Jedi and Sith, one on Tatooine where I destroyed his mother's cantina because he tried to hide in it. He ended up running from me. You should have seen him. Bigger than any human had reason to be. Stopped an ancient Sith war machine from being activated. Tried to rescue a dumb kriffing knight and his Padawan from a Sith world. All-in-all I think the biggest one was when I hijacked an Imperial merchant ship and took it to Coruscant where I destroyed the Empress' palace with it."

Letting out a nostalgic laugh he looked to his friend, "Alright, what about you. I know you must have a story or two!"

 

[Pyre]

She was visibly holding in laughter by the end of all that. Alongside looking at him with admirably-restrained shock, and visible measure of wonder. Kess looked ahead once more, brushed the fingertips of her free hand over the lightsaber hilt jouncing at her side. Mirth fading, into a distant expression.

"Planetary evacuations are never boring. Though the one I was a part of was in my padawan days, and it had become a target for the Empire. Since I left...let's see. Three times I lured out Sith by singing in cantinas, and using the emotional roil to magnify my ability to call out to them. I got in well over my head with one named Visineth who found me before I was ready on a little backwater named Ellevar III, and ended up dropping a building on him. I killed a Sith apprentice a better Jedi might have saved. I rescued an entire family from Imperial attention and capture, got shot twice doing it. I hid and ran from a Jedi Knight who sensed me on Orvo Knun, while they tried all the while to talk me down from the path we both knew I was on. I trapped and killed eight different Sith of note across six systems in the last three standard years, using every little trick and tactic I could think of. I saved a little girl's brother who'd gotten in too deep with drug runners. Lost my left arm to Visineth when a trap went bad, shot him with the blaster emplacements on my ship, and still barely got away with my life."
"I refined what I'd learned of saberwork into a style I haven't yet seen anybody else perform. I resurrected the ghost of a saber form that was lost ages and ages ago, and when I met Visineth the last time I beat him with it." Fire in her voice for that last, a flash of teeth. "I realized things about my people and myself I'm embarrassed took so long to become clear. And forty-seven days ago I turned a Sith apprentice to the Light."

She finally looked back at him, and her face was somber and sunshine swirling together, like still-dissipating thunderclouds at noon. "Did you use the merchant ship to deploy a weapon or did you fly the kriffing thing into the palace?"

 

[Ral]

With pursed lips, Kai listened to the tale Kess had to tell him. It was intriguing, riveting even perhaps, to hear of all the things this red-skinned girl had done in the past six years. She certainly had been busy, there was no doubt about that, which was good to hear. They would need more active Jedi, more proactive Jedi. Jedi who were smart, and cunning, and knew how to use their gifts and abilities. Not like the Knights that had been raised up recently, or the Padawans who treaded too closely to the Dark Side to really even be Jedi. He was surprised to hear that she had lost her arm to the Sith, he honestly hadn't been able to tell, but he did his best to hide his reaction, though the Zeltron would still probably be able to sense his surprise. Giving a surprised smile when she said she defeated the Sith. Kai could clearly hear the passion in her voice, perhaps anger, perhaps righteous vindication. It mattered not to him in that moment, he was just happy she did it. When she was finished he smiled and nodded. "Good, good. I'm glad. That's quite a tale, but then again, we've both had six years to accrue such stories. It's really quite refreshing to hear you were able to redeem a Sith. Do you want to tell me wha these realizations were?"

Looking back at her, Kai enjoyed the expression on her face as it spoke of so much, just like her amber eyes. Laughing a bit at her question he shrugged and shook his head. "No, neither. I had some friends, some spies actually give me some codes to land on Coruscant. I rigged the whole ship into one massive bomb; turned the hyperdrive into the charge and used some explosives as the primer. Landed, snuck onto another shuttle and took off. Once I was outside the blast radius, I hit the detonator and turned the entire palace into a small star for a second or two before leaving only an ashen and scorched crater. It was supposed to be the start of our offensive against the Empire. I just hope it is looked upon positively in the future. A lot of people were killed when it exploded."

 

[Pyre]

"Costs. I doubt that part will be, not by everyone. But then, no taking it back now. All you can do is push forward, and try to live for those dead by your hand." She flexed the fingers of her right hand at that; he was holding the left, after all.

Kess considered the skyline of Naboo stretched out above them. "The Zeltron racial....ethos. Ethos is the right word. It's not about being a pleasure addict, or running from every other sensation. What we do...it's about helping. It isn't just that we feel more strongly, though we do. It's that we feel everything other people do, too. And when you know someone like that...when you know everyone like that, it changes the way you view the world. When you see the way a feeling creates chain reactions in one person, and then in everybody else around them, it gets you to try and help. Because if the people near to you are feeling joy they might spread it to others, and those to others still. Like the Force, but...dirtier, more visceral. More close. But it was so loud for me for the longest time that I couldn't see it."

Cloudy-sunshine expression turned toward him again, and she squeezed his hand tighter. "I used to be certain that if you could look through history, you'd find more Zeltron among the Sith than you would among the Jedi. Now I'm not so sure, and I like that."

 

[Ral]

"Yeah, you're probably right," Kai let out a little sigh as he watched her flex her right hand as she talked about those who had been killed. "It sounds like both of us have more than a little blood on our hands, and I'm sure that by the end of this war we'll become bloodier yet still." The voice he used was soft and somber as though he was going to regret each and everyone of those deaths, because in truth he was. Though, he understood that in this case there was a bit of a necessity to it. They couldn't win this war by being strictly and staunchly pacifist. That would be the end of the Jedi and any form of true resistance against the Empire and the Sith.

Pausing where they stood on top of a hill, Kai listened to what Kess had to say about Zeltrons and the way they viewed and felt emotions, explaining how she perceived their ethos and why they were so hedonistic. It made sense, and was far from the downright evil interpretations some staunch Jedi often took in regard to them. Smiling a little at her as she explained that they just wanted to help people, to spread the joy and happiness, Kai nodded. "I can understand that. I think when you put it like that it makes it sound far more noble than simply pleasure for pleasure's sake. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but I can see how some Jedi might view that as bordering on the Sith side of the Force." Squeezing her hand back, he pulled her a little closer to him. "Well, I'm glad that you've made that realization on your own. It sounds like something you've put a lot of time and thought into, and I definitely see some wisdom in it. I'm also happy you seem to be the sort of Zeltron who wants to help now... I-I want to do what I can do help with you, I think. That sounds like something I might enjoy."

Pulling on her hand again so that they were facing each other, Kai looked down into Kess' big amber-colored eyes, searching them, trying to look through the pain, heartache, and anger that she had experienced to see what was inside her now. After a few silent moments, he smiled and asked, "So, what now? I'm sure you had a plan of some sort, or an idea. I mean besides just coming back to the Jedi, of course. Was there another reason you wanted me to be the one to bring you back? You could have just used some of those skills to find an outpost or the fleet I'm sure, it wouldn't have been that hard for a Jedi I think."

 

[Pyre]

Just a small noise of agreement from Kess at first. Then; "I ought to have a talk with those Jedi. A great number of the Order need to take a hard look at what the Light side of the Force is, and what being a Jedi means. Though I'm sure some of my people really are just plain hedonists. But I have the feeling most are working toward what I described, even if they don't know it. Bunch of unaware doctors, us."

He made her smile again, with that little stutter and talk of things he might enjoy. Really smile, free of all but the traces of clouds. And she reached out her right hand, to take his left and hold it gently and firmly as he asked her the rest. A little shrug.

"Not sure I get to call myself a Jedi yet. But no, no plan. I felt like it was time to come back; like what I've learned and what I am can be of more use to the Galaxy as a part of the Jedi, now. As to you...you just felt like the right boy to ask. Or, the right man, rather."
A beat.
"And if I'm honest, I wanted to see you again. Get a look at what you've become."
And here she took a step back, still holding his hands but stretching both their arms out between the two of them. Her left hand twitched once, of its own accord. Correcting her grip, Kess looked him up and down with a gaze much more evocative of the usual conceptions about her species. Though a mischievous, teasing smirk danced along her mouth again.
"Pretty impressive, overall."

 

[Ral]

With a bit of a light chortle, Kai nodded at Kess, "Aye, perhaps you ought to have a talk with those Jedi." He gave a smile as he nodded in agreement to the rest of what Kess was saying, giving her a knowing smirk when she made the remark that Zeltrons were a bunch of unaware doctors. The remark was cute, and one he could appreciate to an extent. As the conversation moved on he caught her smile, and his smiled widened just a little bit more. He did so enjoy seeing that smile, and he felt a little bit of warmth fill his chest when he realized that she was smiling because of him. It wasn't a fake smile either, it was a genuine smile, and to Kai it was like the sun had finally broken through on a rainy afternoon. Feeling the warm flesh of her red-skinned hand to his and hold it firmly caused him to gaze into her amber eyes a little more passionately.

Listening to her response to his question, he started to nod. Her response wasn't disheartening or disappointing, he was just happy to hear that she felt that it was time to return to be part of the Jedi. That meant, hopefully, that she was here to stay for good, that he wouldn't have to worry about her leaving again. When she corrected herself he blushed a little, looking down at his feet in partial embarrassment, though he had no idea why he felt he should be embarrassed by what she said. Feeling her take a step back, he looked up back at her pretty face and saw the gaze she was casting his way as she looked him over. He of course noticed the twitch in her left hand, it was hard not to, and he knew that it was her artificial one; making him wonder if there was a little bit of a short in it. His thoughts only lasted for a moment, though, as his attention was quickly drawn back to the mischievous look he was receiving from her. Grinning back at her statement, he gave her a careful examination of his own, "You're not half bad yourself," he smirked pulling her in close and placing his hands at the small of her back so that he was embracing her whilst looking down into those amber eyes, then with a little wink, "Though, I think I like this view a little bit better."

 

[Pyre]

A little eep. He'd surprised her, precognition and being good at flirty interaction and all. Amber eyes widened and a little gasp, followed by a laugh, a sigh, and leaning her dark-haired head forward to nestle it against his shoulder, and slide her hands around his back.

"Kriff. I have missed this."

Flirting? Talking of the Force with another Jedi her age, personal revelations and insights and all? Or just him? He'd have to guess, as Kess didn't follow it with anything save to nuzzle her face up against his neck, and hold him gently.

 

[Ral]

Hearing the young woman squeak as he pulled her into his arms made the dark-haired Jedi Master chuckle a little. As those amber eyes went wide, Kai leaned in a little to touch his forehead to hers. They shared a light laugh before Kess moved her head to the niche of where his neck met his shoulder. Feeling her hands taking their place on his back made him smile a little, it was that sort of smile which is both nostalgic and sad, like where one remembers of a time long past, and unobtainable. A chance long missed. The memories flooded back a little and he closed his eyes as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"I missed this, too." Kai responded. For him, he meant her, being there with her, talking with her, flirting with her, holding her, being close to her again. Bringing a hand up to her glossy black hair, he ran a hand through it, massaging her scalp. "I missed you a kriffing lot, too. By the way. Just thought you should know."

Pulling her down to the ground, he held her close to him as he rested his back against the green slope of the hill they were on. Staring up at the cerulean sky, he thought for a moment, wondering, but opted to say nothing. Instead, he simply lied on the ground and enjoyed the simplicity of the moment. There was nothing better for him at that moment. After a little while he leaned over and kissed the top of her head lightly. "So, what now?"