The return to the Temple had been with little fanfare or acknowledgement, exactly as the Ithorian Knight preferred it. His first day home had been spent airing the dust out of his quarters and creating a comfortable nest for the Tooka kit he had brought from Coruscant, followed by an evening plumbing the temple grape-vine for gossip on the latest group of Padawans and the going-ons among the Temple Jedi. The second and third day were spent in meditation and observation, following a thread of a feeling to the training salles and along a path through the swamps before looping back to the Padawan quarters. On the fourth day since his return Aamaw found himself kneeling in the dirt of his grove on the Temple outskirts, clearing weeds from the ferns at the base of the towering Baffor trees, waiting to see if his message would be responded too.
Running a hand over the crystalline bark that pulsed and shined with reflected starlight from the clear skies visible through the canopy, Aamaw crinkled his eyestalks in an Ithorian smile at the curious hum that ran through his fingers and brushed against his mind.
"I've a good feeling about this one, Mother. I believe they are what called me to return to the Temple."
The black leaves overhead thrummed and hissed, a whisper of simple teasing jealousy filling the air and coiling around his mind. Turning his eyes up at the bulk of the trees, tracing over the latticework of glassy bark where six trees had merged and become one, the Ithorian gave the tree a light admonishing swat across one of its low hanging branches, still unsure whether the whispering laughter of the leaves was a loud or in his mind.
"And to take care of your grove, of course; I know how you wish to keep the creepvine from strangling the bullferns."
The trees seemed to preen, the crystalline bark pulsing with it's own inner light and Aamaw chuckled and patted the glass-smooth root as he stood and brushed the dirt from his knees.
"Hush now, dear ones. We want to make a good impression for our guest."
@Sreeya