At Play in the Fields of the Jedi (Voss Edition)

[Zak Dymo]

V O S S
The Silver Temple

The life of a nine year old was not for the faint of heart.

To start with, the struggle is real. It's really real! Child slavery was sooooo totally a thing. As if it wasn't bad enough that Zak had to go to school with girls.

Which, by the way, gross.

But did it end with playing house or pink lip gloss? Oh no. That was just what awaited you when you went home to your youngling clan dormitory. There were books. And reading.

Reading. Seriously, who does that!?

Then there were meditation classes, which could be good for a nap. Until you got caught. And had Zak gotten caught? Of course he had! It was blatant species racism. Every meditation class, that mean ol' Master Yun was looking right at the only Nautolan in the room.

So now, here he was again. 'Detention' was what the politically correct grown ups liked to refer to it as, and they got upset whenever Zak referred to it as 'doin' hard time', 'getting locked up in the slammer', or 'workin' on the chain gang'.

Hey, he was only callin' it as he saw it. How was it his fault if adults couldn't handle the truth? He was just one kid speakin' truth to all who wouldn't listen. He was a real voice in the wilderness.

...except this wasn't a wilderness. It was a Jedi Temple. And did it count as a voice if no one listened?

Okay, so he was nothing like a voice in the wilderness. Scratch that part. The struggle, however, was still real.

As his penance for falling asleep in meditation training... And also for hitting C-3DO with a pie. And for stealing an Antarian Ranger transport. And...

...and you know what, the 'how we got here' part really isn't important. Maybe some stuff happened. Maybe it didn't. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Whatever happened to due process? Chit went down. Everyone's favorite scapegoat took the blame. And only the Force can judge.

Bottom line: It was detention, and Zak was supposed to dust the shelves and statue-head-things in the temple library.

Which, what the kark is up with keeping heads around as monuments? How morbid is that? Look, look, here's the head of Jedi Master Yoda! We should display this bust as a trophy to his being dead!

Except of course, Zak wasn't doing any dusting. That would involve doing boring stuff. What was Zak doing? Well, that would be difficult to explain rationally, because he was nine. There was no rational intelligence to be found here.

Smuggling in a music player, the Nautolan had slipped a set of headphone over his head. He didn't have ears, at least... not in the humanoid sense, but the mass of stubby head-tails could still pick up the vibrations as the Nautolan slid between the shelves of the library in his bare feet.

Pause. Pirouette. And moonwalk back toward a head bust of Ki-Adi-Mundi.

Twirling the towel up, the small youngling brought a bundled end up toward his face as he imagined it was a microphone. In his mind's eye, he was on stage at the Promenade on Zeltos. Under the lights. Dancing and moving with the rhythm of the hip-hop beat supplied by the Naboo group Gunganlicious.

It was a butt scootin' visual that stayed with the boy right up until the moment when the headphones had been yanked away from his head. And suddenly the Friday Night Lights were gone. And he was back on Voss.

And looking up at the stern looking face of mean ol' Master Yun.

"Oh, kark."

- - - - - -​

Being something of a connoisseur himself, Zak had come to realize that not all soap tasted the same.

He'd become partial to Fresh. As he came out of the Silver Temple, the small youngling was continuing to gag amid desperate attempts at freeing his tongue of the taste of Buffles soap. Which was horri-bad!

He was also rubbing his rump.

Was there a line at which 'child rearing' ended and child abuse started? Because Zak felt like it should be either 'wash your mouth out with soap' or 'spanking'. Getting your mouth washed out with soap and a spanking seemed like it was definitely towing the line to cruel and unusual punishment.

In any case, there had been a meeting. And then a session with the Jedi Council.

First they hadn't known what to do with the high energy youngling, and now Zak was supposed to meet some new student at the Jedi Academy on Yavin and show them around the Silver Temple and Voss-Ka. Because that would involve talking, and talking was what Zak did best!

Plus, they promised if he could get through this with no fires, explosions, or grand theft spacecraft that he'd get his music player back.

So the small boy waited for the transport from Yavin to arrive.

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

It'd only been a few hours - hours since Lahi was 'officially' inducted in as a Padawan, and already she was on a new metal wh- starship, she had to correct herself mentally every time she started referring to them, still. Showing up to a temple in a wrecked Jedi ship talking about how you killed one was... certainly one way to join the Order. She wasn't sure if she had offended them, or if she had pleased them, or for which reason she was being taken to another temple to allow her to, as she was told, 'See the many sides of the Force, and those who teach the Light Side'.

She didn't mind though - well she did, because she'd much rather be flying outside of the transport while it left the atmosphere, because that was so boring, but she didn't mind seeing new places! New places were interesting, and full of new things, and new things were something Lahi would never get over - she'd seen so many new things! She even had one in her hand at this moment, as the transport lifted off the ground - a small datapad, loaded with stories about her people! It was so neat, and like, the best gift she could ask for, for this boring journey - really, how long did it take for one transport to break atmosphere, goodness!

-----

The answer was not as long as the Angel expected, and the journey to Voss was much quicker than she ever expected it to be - it was only her second time going to Lightspeed, and she still had trouble imagining flying that fast, but the droid pilot's comment was unmistakable, "Cleared for landing in Voss-Ka. Prepare for landing in ten minutes. Fasten all seatbelts." On one hand Lahi wanted to ask what the point of seat-belts even were, she hadn't worn one the entire time, but on the other? She glanced around the transport, glowing even more so than usual at that lack of anyone else, and practically sprinted to the door.

The sound of a distraught droid pilot was drowned out by the sound of reentry into an atmosphere, as Lahi hit the keys on the door that she knew would open it, and jumped out of the speeding transport, wings still behind her as she followed it downwards, "I'm faster than youuu!" She giggled as she passed by the cockpit window of the transport - she knew it wasn't actually audible to anyone, not even to herself, but she knew what she was saying, and she knew it was true at that!

This was all likely being recorded, and she didn't even know how badly she was doing at the whole 'proper Jedi behavior' part of her new life, but she didn't care, she loved the rush of flying, it was the best feeling. But it wasn't to last - she was apparently meant to meet someone here, she remembered that from before, so she looked for someone who looked to be looking for her. It wasn't too hard to find, and luckily no one shot at the glowing flying woman in the blue dress - likely those who would have either warned of her visit, or entranced by the natural abilities of the Angel.

-----

Touching down near Zak, Lahi folded her wings down along her back, as if they were simply a beautiful white glowing cape - her back obviously exposed by the dress, to allow for the wings to be outside them. "Oh goodness, I needed that! It's so cramped in a metal whale!" She smiled to the small green one, then blinked... then blinked a few more times and closed her eyes tight. And then suddenly pointed right at Zak, and went "Small, green, You're a!" She froze up, and then suddenly switched to bowing, "I've read a little about your people! Though it said more wrinkles... but still! They say all of you who venture into the galaxy become glorious Masters, like the greatest among us! Like, uhm... uhm... Y.... it starts with a Y!"

The Diathim continued to glow bright white, its hair a mess from the flight moments before, as it tried to remember the name of the Jedi Master Yoda, that it had somehow mixed the Youngling up with. Standing at almost three meters tall, she was a good bit towering compared to Zak.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

The boy had started humming.

As his mind started producing a rhythm, the child's foot had started tapping as he started to let his mind wander away from this star port and become transformed by the music. His head moved from side to side, an exercise known among dancers as isolation. When his head had stopped, his hips started. And then he exploded into motion, popping-and-locking to the left before he brought it back to the right.

All to music that existed only in his own mind.

Suffice to say, the people that had been standing around were gawking at the youngling, who was oblivious to the attention he brought on himself.

He was halfway into trying to re-create Gunganlicious' drop, kick, flip, and jump maneuver from the holovid to their recent hit Uhn Thiss Uhn, when he'd heard someone gasp. From where he'd been break dancing on the ground, the small Nautolan's head craned back so that he was now viewing the world upside down.

A woman was pointing down -- er, up. Down was the new up.

You know what, he'd just right himself.

Kicking up from the ground, the spry youngling bounded up from the ground to peer up at the sky from behind the abyssal eyes of a Nautolan. As dark as the sea, with tides that moved swirls of silver and gray through the bottomless orbs. Squinting, the boy brought a hand up to help shield his eyes from the sun.

Was that the transport?

Wait, no. Yes. Maybe?

Was there a meteor entering with the transport?

As the boy squinted, trying to fathom what it was that he was seeing, the light seemed to have a life of its own. Soaring through the air, until it had descended upon the star port. When it finally dawned on Zak that this was a person and they were flying, all fourteen of his stubby head-tails perked up with energy.

Oddly enough, Zak was having a hard time trying to decipher what exactly this person looked like. It was a girl. But sometimes she seemed humanoid, and othertimes she seemed almost Nautolan. It was like whenever he blinked, she was never quite the same the second or third time he looked at her.

Whatever the case, as she landed and spoke to the youngling, the boy completely missed the whale remark. Instead, he blurted aloud the first thing that had come to mind when he'd realized that he was talking to a real flying person.

"Astral!"

He was nothing if not replete with a verbose and diverse vocabulary.

Best of all, she even glowed! Like [member="Uri Aureleos"]. Except, he was pretty sure that the Hrakian didn't have any of those wing-techno-lightshow-flying things going on. It'd still be pretty cool if he did though.

Even in his awe-struck state, the boy couldn't miss the remark about his race. "Nautolan doesn't start with 'Y!'" the youngling supplied with a giggle. The rest? The rest was true. Kit Fisto. [member="George O Rourke"]. Nautolans were some of the bombaddest Jedi on the block. Even the Sith knew that. That's why they'd conquered Glee Anselm, to put a stop to the phat game that the Nautolans had going on. And going down.

"We... like, totally have some bombad masters," the boy began, before he paused to think for a moment.

I know. I know. Zak was thinking. Nothing good could come of this.

If what she said was true, then would that include him? Looking up, the confusion was plain on his face as the youngling recalled, "But the Silver Council says I'm just a glorious..."

Wait, how come they didn't have to wash their mouths out with soap when they said it?

"Uhh, that's prolly not important," the child remarked, changing subjects at random. Which, for Zak, was normal in the course of any conversation.

"I'm Zak."

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

Lahi tilted her head as the little creature yelled Astral loudly at her, just a bit confused, but not seeming overly worried about correcting the supposed Jedi master, but then continued to tilt her head further, at the mention of 'nautolans' - not something she had ever heard of, but apparently they were... bombad? The head tilting reached peak velocity, as her body lifted off the ground, leaving her body at an almost 45 degree angle, and her head almost upside down, making her hair-tendrils fall down towards the ground, and out of her face entirely. She'd learned the gesture of 'tilting your head' rather quickly, and she was proud that she could do it so well, compared to the other races she had met in her short time outside of her home.

"Lahi. Is pleasurable good to meet. Never heard of Nautolan. They are very short! But assured to be mighty, if Council says you are glorious, yes." She didn't seem to question the idea of there being two mighty small green people, "Tell me though, what is a 'bombad'? Is bad not something we do not like? Would we not call your people bomgood?" She was floating completely horizontal now, with her head completely upside down as she continued to stare at Zak - the floating actually allowing her to stare at eye level with him. People were gawking even more than they were at the breakdancing youth, now that the brightly glowing woman was floating around like it was nothing at all.

Her eyes weren't looking just at Zak though, it was hard to track with the glowing lack of any color to them, but looking hard enough made it clear they were moving at least, she was taking in her surroundings, and her expression was lighting up - almost literally, something about her smile seemed to make the rest of her face glow more intensely, "It is very pretty. Different from Yavin and home. We shall go and see, yes?" She was so excited to see it, but something also made her feel... itchy, here. She had never really felt 'itchy', before, but it was a weird feeling, a pleasureful one mixed with a bit of pain, but not physical at all.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

The boy's bubbly laughter continued.

He liked this glow-y, humanoid-not-humanoid, flying person! "Nooooo, I'm not short!" the decidedly diminutive youngling protested, a bright smile plastered across his face as he giggled and tried to explain. "I'm... uhh..."

Zak used to be taller than [member="Théodred Heavenshield"], but that was when Theo was two and before his writer had growed him up. Which was a time paradox for another time.

There was Rickee Bo-Bee, who was another boy in Clan Womprat, and definitely Zak's same height. Kulumie was only taller because of the Togruta montrals, so that ought not to count. And Mieu was a Pau'an. He was always the tallest. "...average height-ish," the child supplied finally, tapping one finger against his chin as he decided upon that fact. Glancing back up at the illuminated figure, the boy remarked, "You should meet [member="George O Rourke"]. He's this totally astral Nautolan Knight. Tall. Strong. And, uhh..."

Well, there was no talking around George's most defining feature.

"Blue," the boy uttered finally, adopting a conciliatory tone as he added, "He's actually blue, not green. But try not to hold that against him. Blues can't help being blue."

When she'd asked her question about the youngling's slang, he'd actually repeated her word in order to try it out. Hey, it might catch on. And Zak needed to stay on top of current trends. It took a lot of work and research to be this cool after all. "Bomgood?" the boy echoed, allowing the phrase to roll off his tongue as he tried out. Nope. Definitely not what was cool after school. "Noooo, it's bombad!" the boy corrected. It was important that slang be kept straight. Pronunciation and annunciation was important. It was 'brah' not 'bro'. Astral, not 'as-trel'. And definitely bombad, not bomgood. "Not bad as in, bad. Bad as in, awesome!"

It should be noted that both definitions applied to Zak, in about equal measure.

"Do you wanna see Voss-Ka or the Silver Temple first?" the child asked. As he did, he reached for her hand in the natural way in which younglings were used to crossing the street or going pretty much anywhere with an adult by the hand. Whether she took his hand or didn't, the boy continued talking. "Voss... Voss-Ka is, like, the city here. The Temple is just a little further up the mountain."

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

Lahi righted herself as the origin of the slang word was given to her, seeming to accept it and nodding her head a few times. "Bad is not only bad, but also is awesome. Hm. Confusing. Predecessors did not teach of this one word being two, hm. Thank you, for your lesson to me." The glowing woman bowed to the youngling, taking the offered hand gently in her own - the hand feeling smooth and soft, but almost like it wasn't all there. "Blue is also a very pretty color. It is like an ocean, but green is like grass, both very lovely! Both you and 'George' should like colors." A few nods were given, as if she was dispensing sage wisdom, before her attention was suddenly caught up with looking around at the city.

Beautiful, it was as wondrous as anything else she had ever seen. Her people built, but they didn't build like this, nothing built the same, she had come to learn. It was all so wonderful, everything so different, she wanted to run off, she wanted to go and fly through the city, to see the sights, to examine every inch of how it differed from home. The thought of flying off of the mountain, of seeing the world around her - every thought she had made her so happy, so full of joy at the idea of exploring.

But it was more than the city, it was the people, the beautifully colored people, staring at her, entranced, almost hypnotized. She hadn't thought about it, she hadn't realized that there would be so many untrained civilians, that she would need to cover up - she expected a society full of mental discipline, not a city around a temple. "Oh. Dear. Uhm. The Temple. Yes. Did not bring clothes for city-walking, do not wish to cause accidents." She was almost certain that something bad would happen, should she linger, it was already minutes worth of interfering with the people's usual days.

"Perhaps will find coverings and not-accident cause, and can explore city later?" Surely in a temple full of large robes, she could find a set that could fit over even her, no? Perhaps not, even the tallest she had seen were almost a meter shorter than her. A difficulty in the path to exploring, no doubt.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

Her hand was warm, but it felt different from normal.

As she spoke, the boy's head turned to look up at her. She needed clothes for city walking? The question prompted the boy to look down at the simple, sleeveless tunic that he wore. It was a Nautolan design, water resistant, intended for wear in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. But, it was also what he wore pretty much everywhere. In the temple. Visiting other temples. Venturing out to cities or other places. Did people really have different sets of clothes for that sort of thing?

"To the temple!" the youngling chimed, one hand raised triumphantly as he held onto Lahi's hand and marched on from the space port. Which, wasn't the temple further up the mountain? Because they seemed like were going...

"Wait," the boy said, pausing to get his bearings. Pointing off in the opposite direction, he again declared, "To the temple!" as the pair began moving up hill toward the edge of town.

Which, was it him, or were a lot of people staring? Like, more than usual that is. There weren't a lot of Nautolans on Voss, after all, but Zak felt like everyone in the city was looking at them. It was kinda strange.

As the pair began ascending the road up the mountainside toward the gates, the boy pointed to the stone arches that beckoned entry. The masonry was obviously quite ancient. "The Silver Temple was build by the Voss, like, thousands of years ago," the youngling began. "'Cept, they didn't call it the Silver Temple. When the Silver Council arrived here, the temple had been abandoned for hundreds of years."

As the pair arrived at the footsteps of the temple courtyard, the boy motioned to indicate the structures arrayed and connected before them. "There's a garden, training areas, cafeteria, dorms..." the boy began, turning his head back up toward the angelic figure. "Where would you like to begin?"

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

Lahi giggled as the young one led her off in the wrong direction, obviously unconcerned with getting a little lost, and quickly turning around with him as he directed them the other way, a flowing motion, her body briefly leaving the ground as she simply seemed to turn completely in place. The people on Voss were all so lovely looking to her, she couldn't help but want to linger and stare at them, as much as they wanted to stare at her. So many types of people, so many colors, so many shades, all so small, but so big in their own ways. But she did not linger, she continued walking with the small Nautolan's guidance, towards the ancient temple, seeming slightly tired from the walk up the hill - not a terribly terrific showing of her physical prowess as a Padawan.

"Tell me, Zak, of Voss, and temple." She looked down the hill, towards the City proper, then back to Zak, "I know little species. The names mean little, yes?" She had a lot of studying to do, if she wanted to get by in this galaxy, she couldn't just be lost, she needed to find this knowledge - she needed to learn, to really and truly learn, not just of the Jedi way, but all the basics, all the things everyone already knew. And part of her was ecstatic at it - so much to learn, so much to do, so much to get her hands on, she wanted to know everything, she doubted her want for knowledge would ever end.

"And while you tell me, gardens we can see, yes? Peaceful to talk. And then food, if hunger yes?"

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

She'd had him at hello, and then she had to go and talk about...

"Foooood!" the boy echoed excitedly, bouncing up and down while grinning like a little idiot. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were seriously the best parts of the day. In fact, there was far too much time in the day for just three mealtimes. That was why the Force had given them snacks!

Yes. Yes, he liked this plan. He liked it a lot. "The Voss share the... like, their planet, which is also Voss -- confusing! -- with this... this, like, species, called the Gormak," the youngling began, leading the glowy, there-not-there, person toward the hanging gardens that had been designed by the Sage Master of the Silver Jedi, [member="Maya Whitelight"]. "The Gormak aren't nice people, and don't like the Voss, which is why the Voss live up here on the mountain."

From off the courtyard, near the entry to the master's grotto, the pair arrived at a tranquil area. Stout branches, as old as the Jedi, created a kind of canopy, from which colorful arrangements of various flowering and evergreen planets hung in mossy baskets. Benches created a place for reflection, which the view from the mountainside presented a pastoral horizon filled with hills and valleys painted in various shades by the changing light between dawn and dusk. "The Masters, they... like, in history class, we're taught that the Voss and the Gormak used be the same. But the Voss, like, evolved in the Force and the Gormak didn't," the boy said, continuing to talk about the Voss as the pair strolled through the garden path. "The Gormak see the Voss as abom... abom... abom-i-di-mi-zations, or something," the boy managed finally, though he badly mangled the attempt at the word 'abomination'. "...which had led to years and years of, like, wars and stuff between them."

The young Nautolan paused, so that the angelic woman could appreciate the view -- whichever view might pique her interest. "The Silver Temple, they... like, the masters said they think it used to be a place built for the Voss Mystics, who are, like, the seers and leaders of the Voss when they came here to escape the Gormak," the boy remarked, as he thought of what else he might be able to recall that might answer her question. Finally, he offered, "The masters try to keep the temple, like, as they found it, but we've added medical wings and stuff to it."

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

She couldn't help but let out a little giggle, raising a hand to her mouth to cover it as she did so, over the youngling's reaction to food. She enjoyed the meals she had experienced outside of her planet as well, they were quite different compared to the ones back home. And while she did not need to eat as often as some people, when she actually did exert herself, hunger was quick to follow - and even when she wasn't hungry, she could always find herself able to enjoy a small snack, at least.

"The Voss live on Voss. It is understandable, if conceited, to name a world after your own self, I do suppose." The Angel had not ever seen a garden like this, and her eyes were still wide as she took in the sight of it, the beautiful plants she had never seen before, crimsons, blues, violets, all shades of the color spectrum, suddenly in one place. It took a heavy amount of her self control to not fly off ahead of the youngling guide, and start flying around the garden to see it herself. But she could not, instead she simply moved her free hand to a flower, bending far down to smell it, and giving a content sigh at the scent, only to continue on moments later, into the grotto she was being lead to.

"The Gormak sound like the Maelibi of my home. We live far from them, away from the Demon's planet, and allow them their horrors." The Diathim moved a hand up, touching the tip of one of her own wings, "A horrible, that the Voss and Gormak, once one, are now two. A sadness at the pain caused by fighting." The entity sat at one of the benches, breathing in deeply, eyes closed tight. She could not speak to the Voss and Gormak conflict, though she wishes to, knowing her own people feared and hated the Maelibi, who always sought to hurt them. It was not something a day, a year, a hundred years could solve, even with what it might have been could it be solved.

"The Temple beautiful, Voss seers good designer." It was true, she grabbed a pink flower off a nearby plant, holding it in her palm and calmy smelling it, seeming content for that moment, though the sadness did seem to linger in her as she comforted herself with the foreign flora's soothing scent. "Seers no longer here? Temple unused, said you, yes?" It was a curious idea to her, leaving something so wonderful abandoned and unused, there had to be some kind of history to it, did there not?

​

​

​

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

As the angelic form went to sit on one of the benches, the boy did a slow circle as he tried to appreciate the garden.

Terrestrial landscapes just weren't as interesting as aquatic ones. Where were the fire corals? The beautiful lion fish? The anemone? What, what was this? A fern? Really, is that all you got?

Next Antarian Ranger transport he jacked, he was going diving on Mon Cala, the boy decided with a firm nod to the discourse taking place entirely within his own head.

And so he was startled when Lahi spoke, reminding him that he was ignoring the guest he was supposed to be taking around as part of her orientation to the different schools of the Jedi Academy Network. "No, the... the, like, Voss Mystics? They moved to a new temple in Voss-Ka like... millions of years ago," the youngling remarked. It wasn't. It was only thousands of years ago, but Zak was nothing if not a master of exaggeration. Turning his back to her for a moment, the boy peered down the mountainside to the city below. Pointing with one hand, the boy glanced back at the woman as he said, "It's called the Tower of Prophecy and... and it's, like, where they govern Voss-Ka and stuff."

The question about the temple, prompted the boy to glance through the trees to the walls of the ancient stone work lying just feet from them. "The Silver... Silver Jedi? They came here from Ossus, and got permission to use the temple from the Voss 'cuz it was just empty buildings," the youngling said, recalling the lecture from his own orientation. Which they'd made him go through twice since they'd realized he wasn't listening the first time. "Now it's the capital of the Coalition!" the boy added eagerly, clearly excited at the prospect of the new alliance with the worlds of the Levantine Sanctum.

The merger had transformed Voss from a distant, backwater world to the hub of trade throughout this sector. While the Voss ruled Voss, it was from here that the Sanctum governed the Coalition.

"I bet they didn't expect that when they let the masters move in," the boy noted with a cheesy grin.

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

Every question she asked the Youngling brought up ten more for the young Angel, there was just so little that she actually did know, and so much that she had to learn. The thoughts made her giddy with excitement, so many new things, so many great things! She stared off towards the Tower of Prophecy, just the name made it sound like something truly amazing, like the greatest of all things ever - her people always said that the future was there to see, that those who were like her could learn to see it, but she'd never imagined that was true - it was just something they said. She'd never even had glimpses of anything odd - but that name, it sounded so much neater than anything else.

But she could explore that in time! She had a friend here, showing her around, it was rude to keep wanting to fly off - she really had to get used to the fact that not every race could just fly off whenever they wanted to. It must make them feel so trapped, to be unable to go wherever they wanted whenever they wanted... but perhaps that is why they made the metal whales, no? To fly for them. An interesting thought, for the Diathim, who kept nodding along, even though she was entirely lost on what Zak was talking about...

"Silver Jedi? What is Coalition? Is big thing-surprise to Voss?" She honestly knew nothing about politics regarding the Galaxy, and even just the name of the Coalition was something Lahi lacked knowledge of.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

Oh, right. New person.

"Oh, uhhh..." the boy mused aloud, as he paused to think of how to address those questions. "The Jedi that came here from Ossus were looking for, like, a place to meditate and train and stuff away from the Sith-Republic War," the youngling supplied finally, glancing back up to her as he explained, "They call themselves the Order of the Silver Jedi."

All this thinking was starting to make the boy break out into a sweat. Was there going to be a test later? This felt like a social studies exam!

"Everything's pretty much got 'silver' in the name," the boy noted, which was an indisputable fact. They stamped silver on pretty much everything. Silver Jedi. Silver Youngling. Silver Refresher... "Silver Guardians instead of Jedi Guardians. Silver Consulars, not just Consulars... and Jedi Healers are known as Silver Sages," the young padawan noted, omitting mention of the secretive fourth sect as the Silver Shadows were unknown to the boy.

He knew the Republic had Jedi Shadows. He'd even gone on a mission with the Jedi Shadow Master [member="Kian Karr"], so it wouldn't surprise him if he knew that the Silver Jedi did something similar. But the Silver Jedi had thus far been successful in keeping the existence of such a group secret from the prying eyes of younglings.

"The Guardians are led by the Peacekeepr, the Consulars are led by the Lorekeeper, and the Sages are led by either a Patriarch or Matriarch," Zak said, continuing to try and recall tidbits about the Order. "Who, in turn, are three of the members on the Silver Council." Pausing, on that note, the boy looked around the garden before adding, "The current Matriarch is the one who made this hanging garden."

Anything else..? Oh yeah! "My friend, his... his name is Theo, and... and his mom, she's, like... she's the Master of the Order," the small Nautolan said, smiling as he recalled the Heavenshield family. "Her name is [member="Coci Heavenshield"]," the boy noted. Which, brought to a light a separate issue, which was that the Silver Jedi embraced the concept of family. A trait not shared by many other Jedi Traditions, outside of the Corellian Jedi of the Old Republic. "She's married to Theo's dad, who is the Grand Master and Peacekeeper."

Now, the Silver Sanctum Coalition.

...had Zak mentioned he really hated social studies?

"Uhhh..." This was definitely feeling like a test now. "The... the, like, Silver Jedi? They... they settled on Voss, but traveled... like, out to the worlds of this sector in order to help people who'd been hurt by, like, pirates, the Sith, and stuff." Was he getting that right? That was right, wasn't it? "They encountered these people, they were called the Levantine Sanctum, and the two formed an alliance that governs and protects worlds from Mon Cala to Laekia."

There.

No, wait, probably worth mentioning, "Well, it tries to protect worlds."

Why the distinction? "There's this group... the Primeval? They... They're, like, not Sith. But they're totally Sith," the child explained, doing his best to try and talk about a force of evil he couldn't comprehend, let alone explain. "They attacked Ziost and the Silver Jedi weren't able to stop the invasion."

Such was the nature of war, which was doubtless surprising, frustrating, and above all uncertain for everyone.

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

"Silver very pretty metal. Like lots. Would wear, if had." Lahi seemed to be even more interested in the discussion at hand, as she pondered the idea of 'everything' being Silver, like colors were the most important thing in the world, "Though not-may look good on." Aesthetics were something the Diathim were very fond of, and almost every one of them was an artist of some sort - beauty was, after all, incredibly important to keeping one's mind interested in the world around it. But lingering on thoughts was not the name of this game, she had no time to think on everything she learned, the lesson from her diminutive teacher continued on.

She didn't seem to find anything odd with Jedi having children, at least not to the point of mentioning it to Zak, "Helping people very noble. Seems odd not-stop Sith if want help? Not understand fully." The Diathim didn't know much, but she had a brief lecture on the Sith and the Darkside, before she was allowed to leave Yavin, at least! She knew they were basically bad people, who hurt a lot of others, and were generally not anything she should ever want to get involved with - and she was perfectly happy with that idea, though she feared she may never be able to truly position herself as any sort of guardian to face the Sith - even the idea of fighting someone who would hurt others scared her deeply.

"Bad people do bad things, and is unfortunate. Hope-pray next time Silver do better, for new friend." She stood up and gave a little bow to Zak, then beamed a smile to the youngling, "For now, dwell not on it, and go to food, for distraction and filling of stomachs, yes?" Food seemed to be something Zak liked, and the Diathim was more than happy to help keep her company happy, as much as she would like to learn more about the bad things in the galaxy as well.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

Zak didn't really understand it either.

The Galactic Republic and the Silver Sanctum were friends, right? But there seemed to be Jedi all over the place. And it was beyond Zak why the groups didn't work together. There was the Galactic Alliance, the Republic, the Jedi Academy... they'd even had a Conclave on Yavin 4 to talk about the fact that the Jedi were spread across the galaxy.

And still, the Jedi were spread across the galaxy. So Zak wasn't sure what the Conclave had done, if anything.

Adults sometimes just wanted to talk about stuff, even though nothing really changed.

But one thing that wouldn't change was Zak's stomach. "Fooood!" the youngling cheered, bouncing up and down as he waited for the angelic person to get up from the bench so that they could start making their way to the cafeteria.

Skipping, jumping, hopping, and otherwise being a blur of motion and energy, the small youngling stampeded through the garden trails as the pair looped back toward the temple proper. "Voss has some awesome rivers and oceans, and we get fresh seafood from Mon Cala," the boy gushed, as visions of fish paste cakes danced in his eyes. "The seaweed salad is totes amazing! And there's all kinds of krill, shrimp, and even krakana fin soup!"

Zak didn't know about flying. But, in truth, Zak didn't really care for live out of water. There was nothing on dry land, air, or space that was anything akin to the feeling of three or four atmospheres of pressure, pushing the thermocline, and discovering parts of the world that most would never even think about. Undersea volcanoes. Deep sea bed valleys. Thriving coral gardens.

And best of all, krill.

As the pair arrived back up in the temple, the boy led the enigmatic guest to the door of the Jedi's own public house. "There's terrestrial type foods, too," the child noted, almost as an after thought.

It was hard to imagine people who didn't eat seafood all the time.

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

The sudden change in demeanor at the mention of food made the giant woman giggle happily, as she stood from her place on the bench, taking one final sweeping look around her, before following after the youngling. She could not take his hand as they left this time, but large glowing wings spread out, and she followed the rushing nautolan in flight, embracing the time she had to actually do so with him. She could at least keep up with his exuberance like this - taking the time to spin, do full rolls, and pretend like she was going to crash into the scenery, only to turn at the last moment, like it was a little show or game to her.

She didn't expect to find many of the specialties from back home - no saal worms or goah berries, but that was fine with her, for life was an experience, and if one did not try new things, they were simply living life wrong, there was nothing else to be said for it. So Zak's rambling about the many kinds of sea food she had never heard of, only made her wish to try them, "What this 'krakana fin'? Taste good? Sound interesting!" She was flying right above Zak's head as she asked, seeming to have no trouble with flying and talking at the same time.

It didn't take too long for them to arrive, but as they did, she unfortunately did have to land, and fold in her wings - flying indoors, she had come to learn, was slightly rude to most people. An unfortunate fact, but one she was glad she knew before hand - it would not do to offend new friends, "What is Zak being? Silver-Guardian-Consular-Sage?" It was a question Lahi wished she knew about herself - she knew so little of the Jedi, how could she choose what she wanted to be, when she knew so little of the paths themselves.

[member="Zak Dymo"]​

 

[Zak Dymo]

Fish paste cakes.

Shrimp fritters.

Hush puppies? No, too much bread... Oh, fish fingers!

The small Nautolan was nothing if not a gourmet. As he led the angelic creature to the bank of autochefs, and started pulling a variety of small seafood fishes, the majority of which were fried, onto his tray. "It's made from the fins of a krakana," the youngling managed, with half a softshell crab hanging out of his mouth. Shoveling the steamed delight down his face, the boy paused to swallow and then, using both hands to help demonstrate the proper size, explained, "It's this GI-NORMOUS shark and... and, this one time, on Mon Cala, one tried to eat me!"

Also, spoiler alert, Lahi was probably discovering that Zak had no 'inside voice'.

As he turned back to pick up his tray, the boy added, "Now, sometimes I get the krakana soup when I don't even want it, just be like, payback brah!"

Maybe that's what he'd do when he went to Mon Cala. Zak Dymo: Krakana Slayer! Scourge of the Deep. Pirate of the...

"What is Zak being? Silver-Guardian-Consular-Sage?"​

If she hadn't noticed yet, Zak's emotions were subject to mood swings that could come at lightspeed-like velocities. As soon as she'd asked the question, the boy's head-tendrils sagged, as though he were suddenly sad. "I don't know," the boy answered, for the first time his voice dropping so that she may have had to strain to have caught what he said.

But then that moment was gone.

His head-tails perked back up, as the boy turned his head to look at her. Flashing the glow-y, humanoid-not-humanoid a cheeky grin, the boy merely shrugged. Once Lahi had picked out her food and readied her tray, the child would lead the pair of them over to a table in the communal eating area, which was filled with Jedi of all species and ages.

After they'd sat down, the boy picked up another softshell crab. "I thought I wanted to be a Jedi Guardian." Popping the crustacean into his mouth, he was quiet for a moment, slurping on a glass of water before he spoke again. "I love lightsabers. When, like, when I'm holding my lightsaber... it's seriously the only time the Force makes any sense."

Except he'd left the blade white, specifically because he had no answer to the very question she'd asked. And he'd asked, but not found an answer.

He broke apart a shrimp fritter. "But, this one time, on Cyrillia, I had... I..." He paused, but not because he was sad. This was a story he'd had to re-tell a couple of times, to different people for different reasons. It was always just difficult figuring where to start. "My master, [member="Nefertari Sovint"]... she was trying to stop these people from hurting non-humans. And... and I had to hurt some people to stop them from hurting her."

He popped the half into his mouth, chewing quietly for a moment. "I didn't like that," he uttered finally, as the notes of sadness returned.

Then, yet another emotional U-turn. Perking back up, the youngling remarked, "Afterward, I went to Yavin 4, and learned how to use the Force to heal people," Swinging his legs, the boy let out a slight giggle as he said, "So... I guess I'll either be a really bad Guardian, or an even worse Healer!"

Zak as a healer. [member="Uri Aureleos"] would never believe that!

Gobbling up the remaining half of the shrimp fritter, the boy looked up at the woman and asked, "What about you? What kind of Jedi do you wanna be?"

[member="Lahi Te'ala"]​

 

[Lahi Te'ala]

"Will Fin Soup, then." Lahi smiled as she got the description of what exactly it was - Zak seemed to like the food enough, and the idea of one eating him was a little concerning - besides, nothing else that she could see as available sounded like anything she knew, so at least this had someone suggesting it and saying it was good. One day she would blindly stumble through everything the autochefs could make, she was sure, to find what she truly liked - but for now, she could start with things she'd be more likely to enjoy.

And then her question suddenly caused a dramatic shift in the youngling's energy and mood, and she froze up, holding onto the tray of food she was holding with one arm, the other cautiously reaching out for the Nautolan's shoulder - only for him to start perking back up, her comforting motion taken back as she refused to push to comfort someone who did not seem to want it. Following after him, she kept her focus on the small green boy, despite the wondrous mix of races around her, that normally would steal away her attention from anyone.

As he started to tell his story, she listened quietly, stirring her soup with a spoon as she waited for him to finish, not wanting to interrupt. "There nothing wrong with wanting-not hurt others. If there is wrong, is looking to hurting as first way solve problems. You did what needed, but not-need enjoy." Her hand moved over to sit on the Nautolan's shoulder, giving a slow nod, the warm glowing hand slightly hotter than the average as she touched him.

And then the question was returned to her, to which she bit at her 'lip', "Be healer, seems nice, help others. But want learn, find truth, do more-heal. Consular. Not like fighting or hurting. Not Guardian. Want guard, without hurt." It was a difficult choice, there were many options she could take, and a lot of them were attractive enough that she could not decide, "For now, just want learn."

[member="Zak Dymo"]​