Private A Stranger I Remain

[Aadihr Lidos]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

Aadihr wandered the temple of Coruscant, having located Aris Noble by his light in the Force, sent word to meet in the room of one thousand fountains.

The knight sat waiting for his Padawan to arrive, reflecting on the trials past, and trials to come. He had pushed too hard, or not enough. Azurine Varek had suggested simply being the boy's friend. If only it were so easy for Aadihr to befriend others as she does.

She brought up a valid point, however. Despite all the battles fought and 'lessons' he taught, he didn't truly know Aris. A barrier that Aadihr had helped create, he had thought as a professional measure now served only to keep distance.

No demands or expectations, just be. Learn who the Padawan is, not as a Padawan but as a person - but don't make it an interrogation.

Aadihr cleared his mind and waited, listening to the natural environment of the seven-story enclosure.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

The Thousand Fountain's was one of the places Aris went to to think. The room for Panatha was one his father had made sure to set up after the destruction of the Epicanthic homeworld. It was the closest Aris could see the lost world, the room of various flora that had been saved. Niv Hani had become the new home for so many, but still. Aris wished to know what that world was like, what his home could have been like.

That wasn't where he was heading, though. He paused close by Aadihr, looking to the Knight.

".. What's up?"

Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

"Hey. Not a lot, just sorting some stuff out. Like usual. You in a hurry?"

Aadihr asked. He had never personally spent much time in the tranquil space. A distraction he hadn't earned, but he explored it from the confines of his quarters. At least before being transferred away from Coruscant.

Aadihr tossed aside any plan he had, settling to just observe Aris as a person instead of orchestrating any sort of activity.

"What are you up to?"

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"No hurry, no."

He shifted from one foot to the other, his expression dimming just a bit. He didn't know how to talk to Aadihr. The man was his master, yes, but there wasn't a lot of conversations they've had with that. A lot of their interactions had been through the lens of others, trying to keep up and not disappoint his parents, trying to impress Azurine Varek , trying to help others in their lessons and their troubles. It's what made Aris respect him, but..

What place did Aris have with him? Was there any room for him, really?

"Exploring, really. I know the room for Panatha well, but I figure there are other places I can learn about."

Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

"Exploring, really. I know the room for Panatha well, but I figure there are other places I can learn about."

"Panatha, that's your ancestral home world right?" Aadihr was only vaguely familiar. In truth, he knew little of the demise of that world - or of what memorials were still intact in the Coruscant temple after the the battle before his return.

Considering there were no records of the original Miralukan homeworld before their exodus to Alpheridies and the Miralukan colony of Katarr was almost 1400 years ago - Aadihr didn't really have any connection to any specific room within.
"What happened to it?"

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"I was still in the lab when it was destroyed. The Maw was behind it, threatened to consume it so the Eternals blew it up, or something. The details aren't really well known, since the Epicanthix had been mostly evacuated by then." Or so he was told. There was little Aris knew first hand, even his father hadn't been there. It was a sad thing, regardless. His expression even saddened, visibly. His home world, his people's homeworld, that he'd never be able to see outside pictures.

"Most went with Carnifex. The remnants dad reunited. They keep trying to push him to lead them as king, but he has no desire to take the throne despite being a prince."

Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

"Most went with Carnifex. The remnants dad reunited. They keep trying to push him to lead them as king, but he has no desire to take the throne despite being a prince."

"Your father is a good man, though I'm sure you hear that a lot." Too many fancy themselves rulers just for the title alone.

Aadihr stood. This was an important aspect of Aris - his family, his heritage, the legacy he carried.

"Still, it must be tragic not to be able to see your ancestral homeworld, aside from what your father could preserve."

Or that so many left with... him. Aadihr was loathe to even think the Sith's name.

"Would you mind showing me around the Panatha memorial?" Aadihr asked, though not insistently. He asked not as a teacher or curious historian, but as just another person who wanted to understand Aris better.

Then again, maybe it would be easier just to ask Aris what food he preferred. That was what Azurine Varek suggested before she...

Aadihr tossed aside the thought, focusing on the Padawan he was ever distant from.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"Before dad came and got me, I was taught a lot of Panatha. History, logistics, military, economic. The droid raised me to be a proper prince, as per it's programming. It took a bit for me to realize I was sad it was gone. Droids don't teach emotion." Be open. Be willing to talk. Zaiya Ceti had been the one to push him towards trying to take the first step, to try and get some sort of conversation with Aadihr going. He turned his gaze, humming in thought as he put the layout of the garden's in place. It wouldn't be too far a walk, and the path- there.

Without any delay he started to walk, motioning for Aadihr to follow him.

"There's no memorial here. Just some of the flora, laid out as if it was on Panatha still. It's a nice representation."

Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

"There's no memorial here. Just some of the flora, laid out as if it was on Panatha still. It's a nice representation."

Aadihr nodded and followed, considering what being raised by a droid would have been like.

In stead of just considering, he decided to ask as they walked.

"What was that like, being raised by a droid? I'm assuming it didn't have caregiving personality matrix if it didn't teach you about your emotions."

Then again, he knew nothing about this droid-guardian. Assuming is how he found himself estranged emotionally from his Padawan in the first place.

"Please correct me if I'm wrong, however - I'm... trying to assume less and listen more."

More of Azurine Varek 's advice. and Aris's regarding Azzie, over a cup of cocoa on Jedha.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"It taught me a lot about how to use and manipulate the emotions of others. It's programing was built on the understanding that I would already know such things. Dad made me to house his soul. I wasn't supposed to have one. It took some logical leaps to teach me what I didn't, some back ups with it, but it wasn't programed to be a mother or a father." Aris shrugged his shoulders a bit. The droid was gone now, of course. It's programing was dangerous, after all. "You're not doing anything wrong, though. It's difficult to figure out. I don't get how this is supposed to be either, just what I've heard from others. Master Si was always busy with her work and her other Padawan."

Her daughter, in truth. It didn't often feel like there was room for him between that and everything else that was happening. He didn't know how a relationship between a master and their padawan was supposed to be.

Valery Noble always made it seem special, with her own. So did dad, even. Hell Colette was mom's Padawan at first, before she was adopted. Was he expecting any of them to adopt him? No, not at all. But what did that mean for a relationship he was supposed to have?

"What was your master like?"

Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

"You're not doing anything wrong, though. It's difficult to figure out. I don't get how this is supposed to be either, just what I've heard from others. Master Si was always busy with her work and her other Padawan."

Aadihr let out a humorless laugh, "it certainly is difficult to figure out. If it helps you to understand better, I had hoped group training would help me to learn how to teach, that classmates would help keep you engaged while having room to sort things out, in truth turning out to be the opposite."

Aadihr sighed at the memory, keeping his emotional state from feeding into his scar.

"Regardless, I must apologize for how things went with the past few attempts."

"What was your master like?"

"My master was... A fighter, I suppose. And believed I could be one as well, if only I applied myself. Her patience wore thin over the years. She relocated outside of the reach of the Order as they were displeased with her methods." Aadihr almost cursed as he caught himself holding his breath.

The full truth, then.

"She was exiled from the Jedi Order for misconduct and willfully endangering a padawan. She took me to continue training on her homeworld, to a temple that wouldn't interfere with her teaching before the council could intervene."

Aadihr walked in silence for a moment. It was difficult for him to tell the truth of it without deflecting or downplaying.

"I didn't learn the truth about the exile until years later. Despite everything I still think she was just... overwhelmed. Didn't know how to connect with me and fell back to what she knew."

He remembered seeing her aura after training, once he had finally been allowed to rest and recover. After being healed. Every time she had darkened spikes directed inwards. Self loathing, regret, insecurity. Aadihr had internalized those thoughts as a child, had believed that his failures caused her to feel that way.

Neither of them wanted things to end the way it did, but they had.

Aadihr walked in silence for a moment, wandering through memories.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

Exiled? Aris paused for a moment as he glanced to Aadihr. She'd kidnapped him to train him in a way the Jedi would exile her on? That certainly made more sense on why Aadihr didn't seem to know much about what it meant to be a master, didn't it? Maybe. Aris wasn't really sure what to think of Aadihr's training thus far. Maybe it was because Aris just wasn't easy to train. That would explain why Jonyna had to leave him to someone else. Sometimes people clicked, other times they didn't.

It was a danger if they didn't, in the long run.

"I want to learn more about how to wield a lightsaber. My goal is to become a battlemaster who can teach others the different forms, classic or not. And I want to learn how to help people with what I can do already. Not just something anyone can do. I want this strength I have to have a good use, not just be put to the side so I can wrap people's bandages or the like."

Aadihr Lidos

 

[Aadihr Lidos]

Outfit: Clothes, Earring, Bangle
Weapons: Walking stick / Lightsaber Pike

"Lightsaber forms could be a good start - something I could brush up on them as well."

Aadihr recalled the healing tent, cringeing slightly at the memory.

"Have your past mentors covered any of the forms to any extent or should we start with the first form?" Aadihr asked.

"While I could provide some variation using my pike, I should probably just borrow a training saber to cover traditional forms first. I was taught the theory while also in practice, but we can separate the practical and theoretical learning if you feel you learn better in a classroom environment."

He glossed over the method of Luka's training purposefully.

Aris Noble​

 

[Aris Noble]

"Nothing more than what you've shown me and what I learned early on as a youngling with Shii-Cho. I've done some reading and generally have an idea on how the other forms work, but that's the extent. The most difficult I think are going to be Niman and Soresu, Niman especially. I can't use the Force, so, most of Niman's teachings would be lost on me."

Though considering the markings on his arm and the metal within there might be some path forward there. He glanced to his arm as they walked, humming at the thought. Could he do something with it to at least replicate what would be needed to use Niman? So he could at least show students and teach them, as his goal ultimately was?

"Practical is really what I want to learn."

Aadihr Lidos