Ascending Legend
Iandre sat quietly for several moments after Arthor finished speaking, her fingers resting lightly against the weathered hilt beside her while the sounds of the restaurant continued around them, muted beneath the weight of old memories and uncomfortable questions.
When he spoke of rest, her gaze lowered to the saber once more.
"Perhaps that is part of the problem," she admitted softly, the confession coming easier than she expected. "For most of my life, there was always another assignment, another battle, or another crisis demanding attention. If I was uncertain, there was never time to dwell on it because something else always needed to be done. Now there is time."
Her thumb traced a familiar groove in the metal as a faint smile touched her lips, though it carried little humor.
"I am beginning to suspect that may be more frightening than any battlefield I have ever stood on."
The server droid waited patiently while she studied the menu, and after a moment she selected something simple before returning her attention to Arthor. His earlier observation lingered heavily in her thoughts, warning her that she had set pieces of herself in the dirt, and for a time she simply sat with that realization.
"I think you may be right," she said quietly. "When the war ended, the Order fell, and I woke up here... I spent so much energy surviving that I never stopped to ask what was worth carrying forward."
Her gray eyes drifted back to the hilt, speaking gently and almost reverently.
"This belonged to my Master. Finding it should have felt like finding an answer, but instead it gave me another question."
A small pause followed before she met his gaze directly for the first time since sitting down.
"What if I am holding onto the wrong things? Not because they are bad memories, but because they are familiar ones. There is comfort in carrying what we already know, even when it no longer helps us move forward."
The thought lingered before she exhaled slowly, a faint trace of amusement finally appearing.
"I do not think I need a vacation, but perhaps I do need to stop treating every moment of uncertainty like a problem that must be solved immediately."
Arthor Vane
When he spoke of rest, her gaze lowered to the saber once more.
"Perhaps that is part of the problem," she admitted softly, the confession coming easier than she expected. "For most of my life, there was always another assignment, another battle, or another crisis demanding attention. If I was uncertain, there was never time to dwell on it because something else always needed to be done. Now there is time."
Her thumb traced a familiar groove in the metal as a faint smile touched her lips, though it carried little humor.
"I am beginning to suspect that may be more frightening than any battlefield I have ever stood on."
The server droid waited patiently while she studied the menu, and after a moment she selected something simple before returning her attention to Arthor. His earlier observation lingered heavily in her thoughts, warning her that she had set pieces of herself in the dirt, and for a time she simply sat with that realization.
"I think you may be right," she said quietly. "When the war ended, the Order fell, and I woke up here... I spent so much energy surviving that I never stopped to ask what was worth carrying forward."
Her gray eyes drifted back to the hilt, speaking gently and almost reverently.
"This belonged to my Master. Finding it should have felt like finding an answer, but instead it gave me another question."
A small pause followed before she met his gaze directly for the first time since sitting down.
"What if I am holding onto the wrong things? Not because they are bad memories, but because they are familiar ones. There is comfort in carrying what we already know, even when it no longer helps us move forward."
The thought lingered before she exhaled slowly, a faint trace of amusement finally appearing.
"I do not think I need a vacation, but perhaps I do need to stop treating every moment of uncertainty like a problem that must be solved immediately."
Arthor Vane