A Beginning is a Very Delicate Time

[Visanj T'shkali]

When:
Early evening, just as night begins to fall and a rainbow of muted colors turns to streak the skies overhead.

Where:
The gardens of the Silver Temple on Kashyyyk.

Who:
Jyoti Nooran and Joury Syhn

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"Master?" Joury began, timid and unsure. She'd never been a Padawan before, and truly wanted to make the right impression on the small but stately Jedi.

"Master?Where would you have me begin?I have finished reading the texts suggested for all Padawan, but I don't know how to proceed.There is so much to learn, and this is all quite overwhelming."

Joury remembered what her sister had told her, reminding her to focus herself and to keep tight rein on the Den-Tongue she was used to using. "It sounds like a sick Gungan making love to a drunken Hutt," Vi would tell her, again and again, "You can be more than that. You already are, so act like it."

Many outside of Dagata, in fact, many in Dagata found Den-Speak annoying and crass, a sure sign of low birth and poor heritage. Kashyyyk itself was overwhelming.The giant trees and vibrant foliage, the serenity and beauty of the Order's campus. Joury could hardly believe it all was real, that she was here, learning to become a Jedi Knight. There had not been a Jedi to set foot on Dagata in almost four centuries, not since the Grey Lady ruled and ordered the Jedi away from our world. She, and only she, was the lone Jedi on Dagata, and she refused their Order, refused the great Master, Luke Skywalker to his face and called him a fool and a coward! When she died, that was the last day a Jedi was on Dagata.

Imagine! Imagine going home after this, to be Jedi when I stepped off the ship into the very Den I grew up in! The thoughts thrilled her and Joury fought to contain her excitement.

 

[Eugen Aker]

It was only supposed to be a simple vacation.

She was only supposed to be here to see Charlie and some old friends. She hadn't come to teach or run missions with the Silver again, that what she had told her herself.

Old habits died hard.

There had just been a feeling when she passed the girl on her way through the temple. A small nudge her way. However, as a Jedi she had longed learned to trust the feelings, and see what may come of them. From that point onward, she was host to one of the most enthusiastic initiates she had ever encountered, her eagerness reminding her of Charlie when she was younger. The Echani couldn't help but chuckle in the face of such energy.

"Jyoti is fine, Miss Sihn. I don't know if I'm meant to be your master, but I can certainly field any burning questions you may have."

She held the fine distinction of being the last Grandmaster of the Silver Order before her resignation, so it was simply a return to form entertaining exuberant Padawan.

"Why don't we take a seat," she said while motioning toward a low stone bench. "Now, to prepare for your future, we must first gather insight from your past. Tell me about yourself. How did you get here?"

[member="Joury Sihn"]

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

"Y-yes, Master, er, uh, Jyoti." She said, taking a seat on the bench, timidly trying to make a good impression.

Joury took a series of deep, slow breaths to calm herself, and then began.

"My name is Joury, please you of all people do not need to stand on formality with the like of me." Joury smiled, not being used to anyone treating her with such dignities. Being just sixteen, she'd lived a long life in the way of experience but she found herself here, in this place, a stranger in world and a life she'd only heard about.

"I grew up on Dagata. Pretty sure you haven't heard of it. Jedi aren't allowed there, at least they weren't, I um, I don't know if that's like a rule or anything anymore. But it's a beautiful planet. I-It's really a moon, did you know that?" Breathe, she told herself, feeling the anxiety building inside of her.

"I grew up in a place we Dagatans call 'The Den'. It....It isn't the kind of place you'd like. It's dirty and dangerous and poor. I am poor, er, was poor, er I grew up poor."

Breathe.

"I got in some trouble a few months ago, and got....hurt....by some people. A woman saw it and came to help me. She took me to the hospital, and got me fixed. I guess the techs did some tests, and it turned out she....the woman....was my sister. You see, I never knew my father, he was out of the picture before I was in it. Mom um, Mom died a couple years ago. She never told me who he was. She's the one who raised me, taught me what it means to be Dathomirian. I really miss her. Anyway the woman, Visanj, turned out she's my big sister. The Baroness of Dagata is my sister. Our father was the Baron before her. He's dead now too. Vi, that's what she said to call her, took me home to her house....o-our house.....Jade Pointe. She let me recover there and we got to know each other, an' that's how I ended up here. Vi says my midi-chlorian count is really very high, the highest ever recorded on Dagata, at least in recent memory. She said I needed to come here, to Kashyyyk, to stay with you all and learn. Vi says you can teach me better than she could. She comes to visit sometimes and we send holo-messages everyday. It's nice having a sister, neither of us had one before, and I guess now I really miss her too."

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Jyoti remained quiet out of respect to Joury, just nodding along as she recounted her past. She didn't quite understand everything the teen said without context, but she had gathered enough to see that Joury had a real rags-to-riches story. There was more to her past, she could tell as she observed the younger woman struggling to remain composed.

For now she would leave it be, until the girl was ready to divulge more.

"You had quite the journey getting here," she replied as she finally broke her silence. "I'm glad you keep in contact with your sister, she sounds like a lovely person. I think I'd like to meet her if I'm still around the next time she visits."

She beamed, then reached out to gently tap Joury on the knee. The Echani were a physical people, so she didn't think anything about providing some comfort to the nervous teen.

"I'm happy that you're here - there are few better places for exploring your gifts - but I do wonder about something. Are you really on this path because of your own volition, or because of your sister? What do you seek out of this experience?"

[member="Joury Sihn"]

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

Joury paused at the touch of her Master. People didn't touch her, at least not caringly, not in a very long time. Not since...mom. She felt her emotions quicken and strained to hold back the emotions this simple gesture had caused in her.

A few moments passed as she struggled to hold her composure, then she answered,

"I am here because here is the only place I have. Dagatans don't like Jedi, and they downright hate Sith. Too many of us were slaves once, or, our ancestors were anyway. Force-users aren't exactly welcomed with open arms. In all of Dagata's history, only two Jedi have set foot there since the Fall of the Empire: My ancestor, Shalya Mazah and her Master and lover, Kel Miral. When Shalya ordered Luke Skywalker off the planet, she warned him that any Jedi of his new order who tried to come back would be returned in a casket. She hated him, called him a coward and idiot in front of crowd of hundreds, and blamed him - and all the Jedi - for failing to stop the Empire, and then, at Jakku, for siding with that traitor Mon Mothma in not wiping them out when they had the chance. Visanj knows that history too, even better than I do. She knew that sooner or later, my abilities would begin to manifest, and without proper training, I'd be revealed and Dagata would turn on me."

Joury paused, seeing that Jyoti was shocked at the ferocity of her world's loathing for the Jedi. She was pretty sure her Master had never heard Mon Mothma called a traitor or Luke Skywalker called a coward before. But it was the truth, the New Jedi Order and New Republic betrayed the galaxy that day at the Jak, betrayed all of us who fought for a free and safe galaxy without the Sith or the Empire. Just look, today they are stronger than ever, and one in the same! Joury's emotions began to rise again, and again she quelled them before continuing.

"I...I came here because Vi said it was best, and because I didn't have a choice. But since then, these last weeks, I have learned so much, met too many new friends, and..."

She paused again, astonished by the truth of what she was about to say,

"This is first time like I have felt I belong anywhere. Master, I want to be a Shadow, and a Pathfinder. I want to explore the galaxy and do something, stand for something that has meaning. I want to make a difference, not just in the galaxy, but....in myself."

"This morning, I was practicing my lightsaber forms after morning meditations. I just, let go, and even though I was using one of those crummy training sabers, I let the Force guide me and....and....."

Joury pointed to the large stone column that now lay in two near the edge of the field, shaking a little as she outstretched her hand. At first nothing happened, then one of the pieces rolled slightly....then again....and finally it lifted several meters into the air before crashing down to the lawn again. She turned to Jyoti, unable to keep back the tears this time.

"That. I...I just let myself feel the Force, let go, and was practicing the movements for a what is it called? A Force shove? That is when the column exploded at the base and fell towards me and I, I caught it, like I did just now, and threw it aside. Master, I am scared. I don't even know how the feth I did that! "

Tears traced the curve of her cheeks as she trembled.

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

She seemed to hit a sore spot in her questioning, an emotional dam breaking in Joury. It all culminated in a impressive display of raw power from the initiate, beyond that of many trained Padawan.

Looks I don't have to ask for a demonstration at this point.

Usually, when she started out with initiates, the struggle was getting them to believe in their ability and unlearn bad habits. With Joury, the challenge was in reverse - teaching her discipline to curb unbridled strength.

Again consoled Joury to calm her down, this time with a gentle caress of the shoulder. The Echani was the polar opposite of Joury at that point, serene and cheerful. For her, it was an exciting time to see another initiate beginning to blossom as they realized their potential.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. Yes, what you did is telekinesis, manipulating matter with your thoughts. It's funny because you just answered your own question about how you were able to accomplish this feat. You trusted in the Force, and used it reach out to your environment."

The split column that Joury had just dropped rose once more. That was followed by its original base. Then all the columns nearby, perfectly suspended about a good story in the air. All the while, Jyoti just sat there calmly, showing no sign of strain.

"You seem to have most of the basics down. Now you need to learn to focus, so you can avoid outbursts like before. You can't let yourself be ruled by your emotions."

[member="Joury Syhn"]

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

Joury's tear-filled eyes widened at the spectacle emerging all around her. She felt the trembling fade as she breathlessly watched her Master's serene expression as she effortlessly seemed to move the entire world around them.

"Master?" Joury said, finally regaining the ability of speech. She stopped, listening to Jyoti's lesson. Focus....not ruled by my emotions...

"Master, I'm scared.,,of...mysel-myself. I can do things, lots of things. I heard people at the prom discussing some of their training, and I can do those things now. I don't want want to hurt you or Vi or anyone. I have never been able to do that, do any of this, but since my....accident....things have been changing. My dreams. I dreamed of this place, long before Vi brought me here. I saw your face in that dream too. I dreamed of us, wearing black, with lightsabers, fighting side-by-side. I don't know who, or what, but we were together. I just seem to know things too. The other day, Master Ike was teaching a breath control class, and I just did it. I didn't breathe for almost twenty minutes! Master what does all of this mean?"

Joury was afraid. She had never told anyone about the dreams, the flashes of insight, the strange and random occurrences of moving objects and flying items around her room back at Jade Pointe. Ever since she'd left the hospital, they began and were getting stronger and more frequent. She'd left the prom because she 'saw' things about people, knew in her gut that some might be Sith or, at least, open to the Sith. She saw visions, and two - two haunted more than all - and left her feeling terror like she'd never known. She dared not speak them aloud, for fear what they might mean, or that this woman...her Master....might walk away from her forever.

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

She thought a display of fine control would encourage Joury that she could overcome her challenges in mastering her abilities, but the girl just went on to reveal more manifestations of her abilities over the course of her training. It was nothing she hadn't heard before, though it was a curious thing that Joury mentioned her being part of her visions. Odd.

There was also the mention of a prom.

Proms were a thing in the Silver Order now? Like a school prom? That was actually more surprising to her than the paranormal activity Joury was talking about.

She was really out of the loop.

"During training, most beginning lessons are really designed to break bad habits our students picked over time. How we think the world is supposed to work. That's why the Jedi of old preferred teaching children - they were more open minded. The problem here is that you're still looking at things through the lens of the old Joury before her awakening. You need to let go and accept conditions as the are now. When you accept that you can do all these amazing things you told me, then you may begin exercise control over yourself."

"As for these visions you may be having, you're beginning to see that time isn't linear. There is no neat little line from the past to the future. Instead, think of it more like web, divergent paths being created all the time from possible choices we can make. That's probably what you're seeing now. For now, I suggest you keep a journal if you haven't already, and log what you see."

The Echani had addressed the points that Joury had brought up, but she felt like there was something else the girl wanted to confess. She still didn't feel like like prodding her during a very delicate time in her training, but she would leave the door open.

"Joury, if there's anything else that comes up, and I do mean anything, don't hesitate to reach out to me or any of the other masters around. Our job here as teachers, first and foremost, is to serve you and make sure all your needs are met. Sometimes, coming out in the open about a certain thing can be an embarrassing thing, but we all try to keep an open mind. It's one of the qualities I've always admired about the Silver Order."

[member="Joury Syhn"]

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

Joury sighed. Jedi. She knew, somehow, she knew, or, at least, she suspected.

"My accident wasn't an accident. I was shot, from behind, running out of the club back home, where I was a dancer. That's where Vi found me. She watched it happen."

The words hung there now. Out there.

"They were," She paused, took a deep breath and stiffened, then went on, "They were hired to kill me. Payback, for the man I killed."

"I would be dead now....Dagatan law makes murder a death penalty outside of the Den, and we're not big on due process....I killed a man in the city, not in the Den. But Vi, she handled it. Since I am her sister, that makes me part of House Mazah-T'shkali. Our house, and no other, can kill with impunity for any reason anywhere on Dagata."

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

So there it was, Joury wasn't just here because of her emergent abilities.

She was a killer.

Even if the backwards law of Dagata allowed it, people probably wouldn't sit back and let someone get away with murder if they felt wronged. In fact, would be avengers could just ignore local laws as Joury was now abroad.

Another mess had been dropped on the Silver Order's doorsteps, all with the threat of a diplomatic incident.

Just peachy.

The smile faded from the Echani's face, but internally she was relieved she wasn't leading the Silver Order anymore and have to tackle the political implications of Joury's membership.

"I can't speak for the...intricacies of your people's customs, but I can say that their laws don't extend here. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you had your reasons to do what you did. If you didn't, then I suppose you and your sister wouldn't have dared come here. Even so, why don't you run me through events? All of it."

[member="Joury Syhn"]

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

Joury stiffened once more, and took note of the judgment in her Master's eyes.

"I never knew Vi, or our father. Mom and I lived in a one-room hole in the middle of a bigger whole called 'The Den'. Basically, it's Dagata's slums and spaceport. No one leaves the Den, not unless they have permission to go into Harastown. My family couldn't afford permission and my Mom didn't have skills, well none that would have earned her enough for a visa. So she worked in a club, a 'Shaker', that's Den-speak for an exotic dancer. It paid her bills, and the guys who paid her every morning, that paid for food for me. I just stared at the wall as she did her business. So don't look at me like I am some spoiled rich girl who screwed up. When mom couldn't pay the bills anymore, she took a blaster and repainted our living room and she was as close to me as you are." Joury surged and said that last bit through her teeth, angry at being judged. How dare this woman who barely knows me sit there with that look? Joury's nostrils flared, 'yeah, speak out, tell me anything, trust me'. I should have known, should have never listened to Vi that the Jedi were different.

"W-With her gone, someone had to pay the bills. So I drank her fething brandy, put on her clothes, and went to her club, and took them off again. Thirteen. What were you at thirteen? Hmmm? I did it night after night for almost two years. And I paid my bills, and I danced, and then I met a guy who bought me gifts, told me I was pretty, that he loved me, offered to take me into the city. He did, and we danced, and I saw things I never dreamed of. Then we went to a beautiful hotel, and stared out at the view, at least until he decided he'd seen enough and that raping me seemed more fun. When he got done, he beat me until he could do it again. He did that all night until he passed out. Because I was a Tchurca from the Den and who cares about Tchurcas? So you will excuse me that I took his 'thrower from the nightstand and blew his head off. Then I ran home. His wife, because her darling husband would never, she decided some Tchurca had drugged him, killed him, robbery gone bad. So she sent her bounty hunters to find me. They came into my club, and I danced. I danced right over to the door and ran my half-naked johla out the door and into the alley and screamed for help. A woman saw it. Vi. She saw, and she saw the blaster bolt rip through my chest. If it weren't for 'my people' and 'their laws', I'd be be dead. Vi killed those men, and she took me to the hospital. She paid to get me patched, and she found out who I was. Turns out my deadbeat father was her demanding and overbearing one. She took me to Jade Pointe....our house, I guess....and kept me safe until she - because she's Baroness - got it all worked out. She kept me for a year while I recovered. She saw my powers, abilities, whatever come out. Vi knew she couldn't teach me, she can't do what I can do.....she told me the Jedi care....they love before they hate....so she took me here. The only family I have in the world dumped me here because she couldn't help me like you can, and to get me away from any angry woman who won't listen to reason and will - mark my words - try again. So I left my little home, left the only place I have ever known, and I came here at sixteen and you people say things like "She's too old", "She has to forget", you try it. I wasn't too old for him. I wasn't too old for m-my...." Joury lost it. She began to cry again. "Try to fit in, come to the prom. I didn't even know what that was. Vi rapid sent me clothes and I went. Would you like to see me dance, Jyoti? Do you think Coren would? I don't think I am what the Order had in mind when they said they wanted everyone dancing....I don't belong here....I have a sister, and that will have to do. I'll be gone by the end of the week."

There it was, all of it, all out there for the galaxy to see. Joury got up and began to walk away, tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Sorry about the column."

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Joury recounted her experience, quite a nightmarish one that had resulted in the killing of her attacker. The Echani remained composed, but her expression softened in understanding. What had happened was absolutely disgusting, with a child no less. She couldn't even imagine if something like that had ever happened to her own children. Had she been in Joury's shoes whe probably would have done the same thing, though it would be unbecoming Jedi Master to speak aloud for their support of vengeance.

After her confession, Joury broke down again and rose to walk away.

In the span of a few moments, the Echani mulled over an important decision. During her hiatus from the Silver Order, she had grown accustomed to the quiet, able to finally sit back and enjoy the world she had spent most of her adult life trying to protect. It was clear that any association with Joury would bring strife and probably spell and end to the respite she had enjoyed. On the other hand, if she gave up on Joury now, she had a feeling that it would be the last that anyone at the Silver Order ever saw of her. She now had a taste of blood, and there was no telling how she would turn out if she returned to that dark cruel world, with emerging abilities she did not understand.

Jyoti let out a small huff, already standing. She was ashamed of herself for hesitating for even an instant.

In the end, she was a Jedi, and she would keep to her oath.

"Joury, wait." she called out as she reached for the girl's hand to stop her. "No one is giving up on you. I'm not giving up on you. We've only just started."

She came around to the front of the young blonde, cupping her face and dabbing away some tears with her thumbs.

"I understand what happened. More than I'd like to admit. I think if you stay here, you can learn to make good use of your abilities, and help stop other little girls from going through what you did. You are in a unique position to improve life for everyone on Dagata, and beyond. If you stay here with me, then I'll show you how."

She dropped her hands from Joury's face, then wrapped them around the girl in a loose embrace.

"You are home."

[member="Joury Syhn"]

 

[Visanj T'shkali]

"You....You called me a murderer. You said you were glad y-you weren't in charge anymore, tha-that you thought we were backwards and just a problem dumped on your doorstep. I heard you."

Joury wanted to be strong, to be tough. But she couldn't, not with Jyoti, and she collapsed into her arms, sobbing.