A Garden hidden in the forest.

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra's eyes remained closed as she sat in what used to be the Council chambers of the Order of the Grey. It had been seven years since she had truly felt home in this room, years since she had seen Minna beside her or any others that she remembered. Her eyes even drew to the window where she had stood beside Vulpesen with a sorrow in her heart the moment she thought of that fox faced twit and his trees that she wanted to burn. She missed him but yet, all she had left was this home that had once housed her and the things that brought him and her order.

A compound, once vast and housing two buildings now overran with plants. The insides of these two buildings remained clean and cleared by her droids but outside there were flowers, vines, and trees that covered the courtyard and training grounds. Moss grew over the walls of the compound, twenty foot bastions of what once was and the gates to it remained open and without anything holding out those entering.

Above the main building remained the garden that Alexandra still tended and kept orderly. She remembered when the tree had been planted, when Veino, Minna, and Krest stood beside her to grow it and poured in their energies to make its place on their temple be a beacon of balance against a darkside. Now, it just radiated with that old energy and she felt calmer than ever when she stood beside that tree most days. Even now her feet carried her through the halls and towards that garden where the lightside could remain without a worry. This home was her own and with it surrounded by forests, guarded by a river and fall that cut near the compound.

She didn't expect any to return, she missed them though and she missed her students.

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Was a lone Jedi Apprentice of the Silver Sanctum officially 'allowed' to wander Galactic Alliance space on his own?

Likely not, but Vorian Adasca soon found himself in a makeshift shuttle hovering over the surface of Alderaan. The young Arkanian Jedi did not fancy himself a renegade, however there was a tempting source of knowledge in the form of a rumored bastion of Ashla nestled within the depths of a forest near the outskirts of Aldera City. Vorian guided the shuttle over the picturesque pools of glittering blue water and gently waving fields of green grass, sloping hills and swaying trees. The Arkanian's well honed senses soon spotted a dot on the horizon. A tinge of excitement swelled within him as the dot soon grew into a wide compound, creeping tendrils of overgrown moss giving the compound a charming derelict appearance.
Now giddy, Vorian set the vessel down to rest in a nearby clearing. Garbed in simple and comfortable beige and brown Jedi robings, Vorian strolled down the shuttle ramp. His total white eyes skimmed over the landscape, the pinnacle of natural beauty. Taking a moment to inhale the fresh wilderness air, the Jedi Apprentice promptly made his way to the twenty foot walls that dominated the surrounding terrain. Vorian gathered the force to energize the his leg muscles and propelled himself onto the parapets. How old is this place?
Brushing himself off, Vorian glided lightly over the cobwebbed covered nooks and corners of the vast compound. A shiver traveled down his spine as his pale, slender hand brushed against the mason carved rock, feeling the history trapped within it's cervices. Subconsciously, a light sided aura drew Vorian through the main building and into a orderly garden.

There, a womanly figure stood, appearing to.. reminisce? Vorian cheeks flushed. He was a trespasser. "My apologizes for intruding on your home. I shall depart if you wish me to. " So stated the young Jedi, though truly he yearned to further explore this wondrous place.


[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

Her body only moved to hold a finger up to the man to motion for his silence while her other hand reached forward and she breathed out and let the palm touch the trunk of the tree. She had felt the young Jedi since he had entered the grounds and that feeling she got from him was enough for her not to worry about him while she continued. Her own aura mixed with that of the tree before her, the source of that light which had drawn Vorian so easily to where they were and for a time she stood silently and listened, no felt, the world around her. She neither opened her eyes or even seemed to breath while she stood there with her chest finally falling and her hand leaving the trunk after five minutes of silence had passed. "Hello... its been a while since one of you had come here..." She turned her eyes with a small smile touching her face.

"And which is it time, Sanctum, Jedi, or those new breeds in the Galactic Alliance i wonder?" She looked at Vorian with a smile and her legs let her fall to the ground slowly and left her sitting infront of that tree behind her now. Her eyes stared at the man, violet eyes cutting into him with a tinge of silvered coloring to them. Her black hair rested over the kimono like robes she wore these days and a simple signal as to what kind of woman she was shone in the two metal cylinders at her side. She was every much so the force user that the man before her was, what he did about this little detail was for him to decide though.

 

[Tyberius Fel]

From the cutting glare of violet eyes, to the casual acknowledgement of his status as a Jedi, it was clear that this woman -- despite her youthful appearance -- was very wise and perhaps, very old as well. Suppressing a shudder, Vorian turned his total white eyes onto the woman. "I am a member of the Silver Sanctum, yes, but that is no more relevant than my hair color." The Arkanian gestured widely to the garden around him and the architecture that encapsulated it. "I am but a young man, a scholar, a explorer. I wish to enlighten myself to the secrets that lay behind these walls." Vorian doubted the meditative woman would attack him unprovoked, though the hilts at her hips demonstrated that she could.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

"And yet, your hair color tells me you are one of a few peoples... do not discount the small features or even miniature motions you make in how you move, stand or hold back the urges that your body attempts to have happen..." She smiled as she pointed out his stiffness in holding back the shudder that should have come naturally. She had lived among Echani back then long enough to know how to read one's body as if it were a language in its own. "And stop being so cryptic and hidden. Or humble. Ill start. My name is Alexandra and where you stand now is what was once not only my home but home to the Order of the Grey. Now how about you my... Arkanian friend... an Echani would be able to hide their body movements more easily."

In truth she had guessed about the man's species just as he would have to guess at her own before this body. She was going on hair color mostly in her choice of what he could be to narrow it down and then from there she looked to find out just what he might be between the two species she more often knew. Thankfully his earlier stiffness had helped her figure out just which one it was without too much trouble... assuming she was correct.

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Echani trained? It would certainly seem that way. With naught but a glance, the woman seemed to read Vorian as casually as the Jedi Apprentice would read an ancient scroll, offhandedly chirping off facets of his personality, along with his species. Vorian's muscles tensed a little. He felt naked underneath the woman's gaze. Considering he had little less to lose, the Arkanian offered his name: "My name is Vorian Adasca, Jedi Learner of the Silver Sanctum. It is a pleasure to meet you, Alexandra of the Grey." Vorian fancied himself a scholar, and yet he had heard naught about this Order of the Grey. Though it must have been influential to leave behind such a impressive facility in the midst of the Aldera wilderness. So, the Jedi Apprentice sought to remedy this hole in his knowledge.

"Can you tell me about this Order of the Grey?"

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

"We were small, never a large entity and those students of it grew apart and took up lives of their own... Darth Ferus was one, as is Minna, and the Jensaari Veino Garn. All people i once called student, or peer. They were skilled, smart, and loyal... they were my family and now they are off alone in this galaxy you and I both live in." She smiled as her hand moved to touch the root of the tree behind her. "Its a beautiful tree is it not? We created it in such a short time with a process i so enjoy in my time here, its helped turn this place into the garden that it is." She smiled as she ran her fingers over the root, it felt right to be here and now this random traveler, this learner from the Sanctum had given her a chance to talk as she had not for many years with someone who asked about an Order long gone. "The Order died a long time ago, along with a few other things, and my own life was taken in that time."

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Vorian soon found himself huddled down in a leg crossed position, as the ancient Master weaved her tale of her family and how it became fragmented. Darth.. Jensaari? He knew not the names, but he knew the titles. Apparently members of.. family; this.. Order of the Grey drifted along radically different paths. Or perhaps... "Darth?" Questioned the Arkanian. "One of your family fell to the Dark side? Became a Sith Lord? Did that have anything to do with the end of your organization?" Vorian possessed a inquisitive nature and this tale in particular seemed to pique his interest.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

"Not at all, the poor decisions of my own led to its end and the splintering... Krest's choice of his path merely left me and him far apart from eachother. It was a regret i could not help him but things were as then ended." His eyes would find Alexandra moving again as she stood and sighed before looking at the man. "You know, its unusual for Jedi to come here these days, only those of Raaf and Minna are still common faces out here and yet i find a sanctum Jedi being here a unique situation if ever there were one." She drew her eyes back to the man and smiled. "I have a question, what is going on outside of the Republic these days. I hear so little about the outside galaxy, especially with the recent events involving Alderaan.

 

[Tyberius Fel]

The total white pupils of the Arkanian traced the kimono-clad outline of the woman as she sighed and continued to recall the history of her Order of the Grey. Eventually she snapped her wizened eyes back to the young Jedi, requesting information on the current state of the galaxy. "Grim, i'm afraid." The truth could b e considered harsh if she supported the policies of the Republic, but Vorian saw no reason or advantage to mincing the truth. "The banner of the One Sith Empire flies over nearly the entirety of the Core, including Coruscant. The Republic has relocated it's capital to the world of Charwza." With a weary sighed not becoming of his fourteen years of age, Vorian lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "Gloomy times for freedom in the Galaxy."

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

"Hmm strange, i would thought Raaf and her Jedi would put up more of a fight. Going to have to complain to the sister next time i get the chance. They really need to step up their game..." Her hand came to her chin as she smiled and looked over her shoulder at Vorian. "Do keep in mind, i was a former Sith and i still do believe in their code to a degree young one... hearing their victories both makes me happy and sad at the same time. Their purpose is a good one, their methods are wrong. Thus is the same with the Jedi, and with my own order before it fell. There has never been a correct path, only many different ones with the same goal, none of which having found their way yet. Otherwise, there wouldn't be these constant wars and fighting... yet at the same time. The Sith will lose just as they are winning now, there is always a balance to be kept and you are but a single point in keeping that balance. Perhaps you will help raise the Jedi up... or become another casualty of the Sith."

 

[Tyberius Fel]

The total white of Vorian Adasca's eyes widened into two pearl orbs. Former Sith!? Suddenly disturbed, Vorian clambered onto his feet, his eyes narrowed in suspicion at the tranquil woman, muscles tensed and taut -- like a whip ready to crack. "You used to be..." A lump in his throat subsided as he swallowed. Hard. "One of them? And you still sympathize with them? How? How can you, when they enslave so much of the galaxy, kill the sick, and young and old alike!" Protested the Arkanian sharply. He considered himself to be opened minded if nothing else, but the Sith? Sith!? That was the ultimate taboo.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

"Call down whelp, you are Jedi. You are letting your... disgust and sickness over my choices get the better of you. If your master was here she or he would be appalled to see you lose your composure over words..." She glared back at the man, more concerned with his reaction than her choices of the past right now. It was clear she was disappointed in the Jedi for letting its feelings get ahold of it so easily and yet she couldn't help but agree with the man in an instant the moment the words had left him.

"You Jedi are the pinnacle of peace, your force is beautiful and it doesn't harm the force like the Sith do. The Force is always put in pain by the darkside and as such it always cries out and mutters to me from time to time. Ive spent years simply separating myself from my body and communing with the force to understand it and even now i can say i know nothing more than the great Sith and Jedi before me. So let me explain something to you little Jedi." She turned and let her appearance change.

Her arms vanished, replaced limbs that had been torn away, her face was beaten and bruised and her body scarred from head to toe. "This is what the Sith had done to me before i had died. I had served the Sith because i had believed in a idea of Order and stability. And yet, in my time there i had studied only the lightside for many years, i was different from the rest of them because i understood that we could not simply just kill all those there and you will find I was not the only one. Many of your Jedi were former Sith, comrades that changed their ways and saved themselves from their naivety unlike me." She sighed and her illusion dropped to revert her back to her current appearance. "I was stupid, but their ideals... i still believe in them. I will not let them succeed anymore though young Jedi. Their methods are far from right."

 

[Tyberius Fel]

The initial surge of disgust within Vorian was immediately replaced by a swirling whirlwind of confusion and sadness. Slack-jawed, he stared to the woman who looked as if she had been savaged by some wild, marauding beast. Arms tore asunder, body battered, bruised, broken. She looked as if a walking corpse. Eyes now moon sized, his mouth began to flap, initially stammering before finally releasing something that resembled coherent speech. "B-...Before you died?" It was beginning to make sense. Her words, the deep-hearted melancholy that slammed and clashed like a turbulent storm. You didn't just lose your family... A cold shiver traced his spine. You lost your life.

Vorian unfroze himself, immediately sweeping his upper body downwards into an apologetic bow. "Forgive me, I spoke out of ignorance. You've gone through things.. I cannot possibly imagine." This phantom of a woman, this sad shade was wise. And truthfully, her words frightened him. His silvery eyes flashed. He took another step forward.

"I wish to learn from your mistakes." He gave her a determined expression, stony and hard upon his otherwise youthful features. "You once walked both Bogan and Ashla, Sith and.. your Order of the Grey. You have much wisdom that grows wasted, merely tending gardens -- as beautiful as they may be." Spoke Vorian, he himself a particular 'fan' of nature.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

She sighed and walked over to the man, smacking him upside the head for bowing as he did and sighing. "Stop that. The world does not stop because of one dead woman, and your path is no different than it was the moment you had met me. I walked both, and chose one in the end as it felt right. That choice got me killed and tortured, thrown into the Netherworld and then when i tried to prevent it i lost the one i love out of my attempts to keep him safe. These Gardens are all that remains of my life, overgrown and forgotten and it will remain that way. You will not learn from me because i am not Jedi, you are. Your masters know best, not me. IS that clear..."

As the words came out, a single emotion was painfully obvious in her speech. Regret. Sadness over having lost so many people, over having destroyed her life in not only a physical but emotional and mental level too. She hadn't seen her children in so long, or the one she used to love. She missed her home with them but now, she stood infront of this man and glared down at his own eyes as she spoke. "Jedi...Do not eel sorry for the dead. You will not find them solace or peace, only make them suffer in their own mistakes... the Dead are meant to suffer, but only so through their own thoughts and not the words of others."

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Vorian did not know if the dead woman's palm actually existed in the physical realm or was merely some mental illusion, but it certainly stung as real as anything else. The Jedi Apprentice lifted his hand to caress his cheek, a deep red flush of indignity spread across his face from the sudden blow. His jaw tensed, but he remained silent as Alexandra continued to dwell on her mistakes in life. The Arkanian's eyes briefly fell to the ground. What can I say to a person who lost everything? Vorian pressed his hands to the stone underneath him, pushing himself onto his feet, standing at his full height of six feet. Impressive for his age, though mostly a result of Arkanian genetic engineering.

"Jedi is nothing but a label and my Masters are neither omnipotent nor infallible." Vorian shot her another rigid and determined look; he would not let a potential source of wisdom go to waste. "I wish to learn from you, your mistakes and your triumphs. Why continue to sulk over what has already transpired when a chance to change the future stands infront of you?" He posed the questioned sharply.


[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]​

​

She held her hand as he spoke to her and with a sigh her hand came to her forehead now while her body turned and walked back to the tree. For moments she stood there and stared at it, sighing and glancing over her shoulder as if it had been some silent conversation with Vorian being the topic. "Inexperienced and naive... why did you send him to me..." Her eyes returned to the tree as she stared, waiting for an answer and frowning when she got whatever answer she had been looking for. "I hate this... if i end up in the netherworld again for speaking more to this one, im blaming you..." She shook her head and looked at him before taking off one of her blades and nearly chucking it at his head.​

​

"You think you are a chance to change the future? Use that saber and show me just how you will do that, until then i will consider you as what you are and that is as a child who does not understand what truly dying for what you believe is. I believe in the words of the Sith, i disagree with their methods. And if you were Jedi you would understand just what that means, as far as we are concerned your job is to eradicate the Sith, its to destroy them and their philosophy. Hear my words if you think you can learn from my mistakes." ​

​

Her voice ended with that as she spoke out a code the young Jedi would know well, what he did next was up to him.​

​

Nwûl tash.
Dzwol shâsotkun.
Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk.
Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan.
Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha.
Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak.
Wonoksh Qyâsik nun.​

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Vorian's eyes traced the woman as she swayed to her tree, spoke to it and then looked to him, as if holding some telepathic conversation. The Arkanian found himself questioning the dead woman's sanity, but quickly decided that odder things have happened in the galaxy. Hadn't there? In the very next moment, she murmured something else. Vorian's sharp perception caught the deadly glint of a blade, which the woman seemed very tempted to skewer him with. Thankfully, she did not.

Again, she spoke in paradoxes. Alexandra claimed to follow the 'words' of the Sith whilst disagreeing with their methods, whatever that meant. Then, she spoke strange and garbled words. What is that? He strained his mind, attempting to recall his various studies -- years of pouring over the archives and scrolls. It sounded almost like.. Sithese!? Yes, he recognized the language and the poetic structure of the words, but he did not fully comprehend the dialogue. Spoken, atleast.

Nevertheless, he objected to her statements. "I care not of eradicating the Sith. They may find a barren planet and practice their outdated philosophy of social [darwinsim] among themselves. It is when they attempt to oppress the galaxy underneath their heel of petty butchery and tyranny is when they need to be stopped." The Jedi Apprentice stood as firm and unmoving as a Phrik statue, his voice brimming with utter conviction. "That is why, I seek knowledge. Your knowledge. Wouldn't you prefer it being preserved instead of fading into the long darkness of nothingness after you eventually return to the afterlife? Or do you prefer the alternative of sulking in your own demise?" The Jedi Apprentice questioned her boldly.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Vorian Adasca"]

She watched as the man talk and the moment he finished her hand dropped and she seemed... younger. Her entire posture changed as she sighed and leaned back against the closest thing she could and frowned. "Two years, ive been sulking around here and i don't plan to die again any time soon. Its annoying being here but at the same time this is the only home i have left. My children are stolen from me, im not allowed to see the things i love most in the world. My home is in ruins as much as this still counts for a home. Do you have any idea what it is to be happy and then have it ripped from you by the very person you love. I was lost in myself for the longest time, all because of the actions of Vulpesen Torrevaso. A Former jedi who is far more damaging to me than even the sith that had tortured and killed me that first time."

She collapsed to the ground and just sat there as her eyes closed. "Its been years since ive had the chance to fight something other than a droid, since ive had someone to explain and talk to." Her form started to curl up a bit as she put her head against her knees. "I hate this place sometimes, i hate that man. Yet they are still the two most important things to me, and if all else was to end tomorrow i would never forsake them for my own life again... do you understand Jedi? Or is that something else as an academic have yet to understand." She forgot it was a fourteen year old she was talking too, her body shaking a bit as she sat there with her mind shut off and her eyes closed tight. She didn't want anything to disturb her sorrow anymore as she deserved it.

 

[Tyberius Fel]

Vorian had reflexively tensed himself, preparing for the woman to once again chide him on his youth and naivety or perhaps even throw that bloody blade at him. Instead, her body seemed to sink into itself as she leaned against the wall, speaking of.. betrayal by one she loved?

Soon enough, she had curled up on the ground in something resembling the fetal position. The young Jedi stood there, quiet, at a lost for words. A pang of sympathy rang out in his heart. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he finally spoke to the woman. "I'm.. sorry. Nobody deserves what has happened to you.." At his core, Vorian possessed compassion for living creatures. Taking a tentative step forward, he knelt down beside her huddled form. Vorian racked his mind in an attempt to find something to say, to comfort her. He came up blank.

Without any other alternative, Vorian acted on impulse and gave Alexandra a hug.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]