Private Black Sheep

[Colette]

One step after the other: up, up, down, down. The process, she had been told, was good for the heart and a good way to build up her stamina. While Colette had spent most of her life walking between one different spot to the other. The trainer she had been assigned told her that such exercise was good for maintenance but that from now on they were looking to push those limits into something better, something stronger.

So, she was told to step up and down from this tiny little step until tired. After that, she would lie down on the ground and 'just sit up straight again' until she couldn't do that anymore. Finally, at the end of all that, she would have to turn around on her stomach and use her arms to press herself up from the floor and then lower herself again.

While she was no stranger to the concept of these exercises in theory it was still a widely different thing to put them to practice. The hurt in Colette's arms, legs, chest, stomach and shoulders would ache every morning that she got up. They said it got easier with time, but she was about ready to swear bantha droppings on that.

The girl wrapped up her third and final set of repetitions for the day and collapsed onto a nearby bench where she kept her bottle and towel. She took a swig of water to cool herself down and wiped the worst of the sweat. Instinctively she began to look around the room. This gym section wasn't as populated as the others she found. It wasn't as flashy or advanced as the bigger section on the floor above, but it had everything that Colette needed to. Part of her had to wonder if the smell was what kept people away, or the fact that the air seemed just a little more dank or humid.

But, she was clearly not alone no matter how much she had wished for it. On the other end of the room stood a white-haired girl, a familiar face from the day that Colette had arrived. She seemed to be doing some sort of stretching exercise that Colette had no idea what it even was. Her head tilted to the side, her eyebrow raised for a moment as she tried to make sense of it all.

Was she… Punching the air?

Her eyes lingered on the way she seemed to extend her arms and legs. It was fascinating almost, what was this weird dance? Colette's eyes rose from the feet and up towards the white-haired girl's eyes. And then, she froze. Eye contact was achieved. Colette felt her heart pound against her chest, panic at the ready to pounce yet again as she hurriedly began to grasp at her towel to mash it against her forehead and at the very least APPEAR busy and not rudely staring at someone. Even if she admittedly was doing just that.

The other girl went back to her routine. It didn't take long for Colette to start staring again. What an odd routine. What was the point of it? Was it like some sort of force ritual, or some cultural thing? Her head slowly began to tilt again…

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily was cautious about training around others, she had been told by her mother, grandmother and aunt that Echani fighting was an intimate thing, that you are revealing and sharing yourself to another in a way that words could not be expressed. It was a completeness that was forged through bonds that to Echani were stronger than most other forms of courtship and relationships. That was always how her mother expressed such matters. Lily had understood that and even believed it to some degree but her aunt had informed her that practising and training her skills while on Coruscant was possible, that even if someone ended up seeing her, that the bond was only formed through a duel. From fighting another and understanding them over several fights.

It was not forged in a single fight.

Learning of this and understanding it all, Lily had relaxed a great deal every morning through a long routine of fighting and pushing her body to the limits. Her long hair tied up in a bun, her body flexing and demonstrating the years of hard training through flexibility and strength. Lily had found that training this way was a much better way of waking every morning than drinking caf, caf was not a pleasant drink in her mind no matter how much she had seen her aunt crave it in the past.

While she was focused on her routine and finished the final, most complex of the Echani forms, Lily couldn't help but notice someone was observing her. Was it someone ogling her? Admiration from afar? Or just curious about her training? She sincerely hoped it was the latter, she wasn't sure how she would cope with someone attempting to hit on her right now, things were still too new.

Finishing her routine, Lily stopped and turned to the direction of the observer, "Hi. I'm Lily, new here. Is it normal to watch someone train here?" Perhaps it was a Jedi thing and Lily was just being ignorant again. If it was common practice then Lily might want to invest in finding somewhere private to train.

Colette

 

[Colette]

No! No, no, no no! Don't come over!

"Hi. I'm Lily, new here. Is it normal to watch someone train here?"

"I don't know." Colette said and immediately clammed up. "I mean, no. Yes? I…"

"No. Regular people most definitely do not do that, but I was just— You—" Colette glanced away. "You punched the air and I was just done with the day's exercises, and you were there, so I was just like, wow, you know? I am going to sit here, and then you were over there and…"

"Now you are here, and that's—." Colette began to frantically rub her thumb into her forearm. "I uh—"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

 

[Lily Decoria]

It was very clear that the person was not wanting to be caught or at least was very flustered at being caught. Lily thought it was curious, there was a lot of stumbling over words and not really much of an explanation given. She tilted her head as she listened to the fumbling and then the apology of intruding came and Lily shook her head.

"This is a public space, you did not intrude. I was just curious if you watching was a Jedi thing, curiosity thing or if you might have been watching in a more creepier manner..." Lily frowned, there was a better way to frame that last suggestion without being rude and she was struggling to figure out the correct words to say that were more insulting.

Rolling her shoulders as Lily made sure to relax and avoid any cramps, her eyes studied the other person. "I was doing my morning routine, practicing my Echani combat forms." Her soft tone of voice returned as speaking of home and her culture always brought out her softer accent that she used when talking to other Echani nobles. It was a habit she was far from avoiding and at times her mother criticised her for such an accent.

"In future, perhaps ask to observe before doing so? I would not have objected, I figure getting to know other Jedi is important if I am to be one." Lily stated as she looked for her bottle of water to hydrate herself.

Colette

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Echani combat forms? What? Colette tried so hard not to blink only to instead end up blinking far more rapidly than she had intended to. The meaning of the words were entirely lost on her, but then again most things in general seemed to pass her by lately. In the end she filed 'echani' under some sort of Jedi name like Soren's Zoo and Ma'cashi? It had been, what, two weeks at most by now?

And what was up with staring in a 'creepier' manner? Staring was pretty creepy in general.

"Oh, I'm not a Jedi." Colette said and cleared her throat. "Well, not yet. I was… On the same transport that got you here, I think."

She wiped the worst of her sweaty palms on her stomach before she extended it in a greeting.

"I— uh… My name is Colette." She swallowed and kept her hand extended. "No nickname."

"Wh-" She exhaled with a quick 'hm' to buy herself the time to form her sentence. "Where did you come from?"

 

[Lily Decoria]

The rapid blinking had Lily concerned, was the woman having a fit, seizure or suffered from some sort of rapid blinking condition? Or was it a trait of her species? Lily wasn't too sure on the biology of other species, it wasn't something she had spent a lot of time learning and rapid blinking was probably low down on the list of biology to be concerned about.

"Oh. Apologies, I assumed everyone in the temple would be a Jedi of some level." Lily bowed her head slightly as an apology for the mistake. "Really? I did not notice, I think I was too busy in discussion with my aunt. It is the first time coming to Coruscant."

As she wiped the sweat from her palms on her shirt, Lily frowned slightly, was it a good idea to shake hands? Especially shaking hands with someone with sweaty palms? It felt rude to not shake so Lily extended a hand and delicately shook the hand. "I am Lily, Lily Decoria. It is a pleasure to meet you Colette."

"I am from Eshan, that's why I was practicing my Echani forms, they are the language of my people." Lily tilted her head, curious to know that someone was unaware of such manners, she had figured most would recognise her as Echani from her appearance, but also mentioning the Echani combat training should have solidified it.

Perhaps she was overthinking, or delusional in her beliefs of how well known her people were. "Where are you from, Colette?"

Colette

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Lily Decoria. Colette pursed a smile as she put the name to memory. Lily, like the flower, and decorated as in decorated. She looked at the echani woman's hair and took note of the fact that it too matched with what Colette had heard about the flowers.

"A decorated flower." Colette whispered rather awkwardly to herself mid-handshake. "Lily Decoria."

"Oh, I am from…" It was starting to feel like a pattern at this point to say this. "I don't know." Colette said and let the hand go, perhaps a little too late. "I was— is— am— no, was, in a tribe. We walked the deserts, forests, plains and savannahs of a planet our ancestors landed on centuries ago because of a great illness."

"I'm sorry, I don't—" She frowned. "I don't know its name. Only that it once housed a big cache of something called coaxium once. Long before my time."

"What is Eshan like? If you don't mind me asking, of course. Don't answer if you don't want to."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily didn't quite catch the whispers that Colette said about decorated flower and repeating her name but she knew there had been some whispering and figured it might be a few words of reassurance.

The story was interesting, to come from a world that has no name, or at least no name that her people gave it but they travelled the vast ecosystem and a material called coaxium? She had not really heard of such a mineral herself, but resources like that, she was rarely familiar with. "Well, if you can find your way back there perhaps you can bring me along so I can get to see how beautiful your homeworld is?" Lily suggested, curious to meet new worlds and learn more about the wider galaxy since she knew little about the wider galaxy.

"Eshan? It is a beautiful world, no massive cityscapes so there is a good amount of fields and nature still around. People are very pleasant though we rarely communicate through words." Lily mentioned as she stretched her limbs and thought a bit more about her homeworld, "also, you might assume everyone is related because we look very alike to outsiders." She added at the end.

Looking back at Colette, "when did you discover you had the Force?" Lily asked politely.

Colette

 

[Colette]

Beautiful homeworld? There was a moment when Colette chuckled at the idea before a newfound feeling of sadness began to cloud her thoughts. Home was home, and while she didn't have any specific location to visit on said home — at least nothing permanent — there was still some part of her that slowly but steadily began to realize how much she missed it.

She did her best to listen to Lily's description of Eshan, about the cities and nature, and how they all looked alike to outsiders. In the end she would have liked to think she got the idea of it. It wasn't all one big city like Coruscant was, it had air that was fresh from the source, and the people were a lot like one another.

And, they liked to punch air.

"My tribe's camp was visited by a Jedi pathfinder looking into the coaxium story from the old times." Colette said and stared into her bottle. It was easier to talk that way. "He took note of me, and ran a few tests…" That feeling came back, the heaviness in her heart. "Our speaker encouraged me to go with him when…"

"Hm." She fell silent. "I haven't been home in three weeks."

"Wh- what about you? Why are you becoming a Jedi?"

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Jedi Pathfinder? Lily would have to research what one of those were since she had no clue that there were different types of Jedi.

"Tests? There are tests to being a Jedi?" Lily asked as she thought back to her childhood, curious if her aunt had tested her privately without revealing her connection to the Force. Or perhaps her mother had forbidden it to be discussed. There had been a lot of talking about keeping her emotions in check and the combat training had always felt and sounded different to the way her peers had discussed learning the Forms. Perhaps her aunt had been secretly and slowly training Lily behind her mother's back.

It was a lot to consider.

Then she realised that Colette had asked her about becoming a Jedi and was thrown back to reality. "I..." Lily looking a little lost and dropping her normal composure before breathing in deeply and regaining it swiftly.

Why did she want to become a Jedi? "I discovered my powers in a fairly dangerous manner and it was considered best by my aunt that I was brought here to train and keep my skills in check." It was not a fact that her mother was thrilled by but it was something that she had to consider seriously after the incident. Lily kicked her foot against the floor a little.

"Anyways, it is still morning, did you want to find somewhere to sit and have a drink? Maybe some tea?" Tea was a much nicer drink than caf, while she usually reserved it for relaxation and early morning with breakfast, she wanted something to pull her away from her throughts.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

"I prefer water, but, I— uh…" Colette smiled up at Lily. It was probably too long of a smile, or so she thought and quickly turned back towards her bottle again. "I can come along if you want some tea."

"And I mean, about the tests, it was more like the Jedi had a lot of questions. Having an abundance of good luck, having a good sense for what is about to happen before it happens, that sort of thing." Colette rubbed her hand against the back of her head. "And I guess when offered the chance to explore something I could use to help others the choice just sort of felt rather obvious."

"I miss my home a lot, but…" It felt weird to Colette to say what that emotion in her chest was before she even had the chance to register as such. But the more she thought on it, the more it made sense. "I also know that by leaving it I have a chance to become something more than I am now."

She stood up from the bench and sipped from her bottle again.

"Ugh, sorry I didn't mean to get wrapped up in my thoughts. It just happens a lot lately." Colette said and took another sip. "I would love to try out some tea, if— if you still want to, that is."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily could understand preferring water and she wasn't too confident that the Jedi Temple would have the best supply of tea available. Usually Lily drank very expensive and trickier to find brands and styles of tea, it was a luxury of being a noble she supposed. One of the few benefits that there was.

"Oh. Curious. Have you been able to use the Force before today in any sort of controlled manner?" Lily asked deeply curious as she wasn't too sure of the area at the moment to know where to find places that would do tea. "Helping others is a good thing to want to achieve. I had a bit of a more selfish reason of escaping my family and being able to explore the galaxy. I didn't like feelings of being trapped." Lily felt her pale cheeks develop a slight pink in her flush of a confession.

Missing home, that must be a tough thing to deal with. "Must be tough, especially since you know no one around here, I am fortunate that my aunt is here but I would dread to think of doing all this alone. It is a very overwhelming place." Lily nodded her head. The feelings of being on Coruscant were so mixed that she was never sure how she truly felt on whether she missed home or not.

Smiling politely and warmly, "Tea sounds good. Question is, do you know where the tea might be?" Lily looked around feeling suddenly quite lost.

Colette

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Colette's head shook at the question. To her knowledge this whole Jedi thing was as much news to her as it was to anyone else. The tribe had heard of the Jedi, of course, but not as much more than a folktale of old. It had caused quite the commotion when the knight helped illustrate what he could do and what Colette would be able to do if she trained hard enough.

"Master Noble showed me a cantina before." Colette said and attached her bottle to her belt. "But it was a few floors up and I imagine there must be one closer. I think your guess is as good as mine."

Colette latched her left hand onto her right forearm again as she followed behind Lily. The temple was still a maze to the Colette and in truth it was just nice to let someone else take the lead. If anyone met them in the corridors and wanted to say hi it could be left to someone who actually enjoyed or was even able to respond before the other person had passed.

"Let's see if they keep any signs around?" She said and nodded her head towards the exit. Sure enough, not too far down the corridor was a small sign for cantinas. Not just the one, but two. One were on the floors below, the other one a few floors above. Most people seemed to be going down the stairs, but that wasn't necessarily to say that they were going to the cantina or that it was the better one, right?

"You choose." Colette nodded and looked at the staircase. "I have no idea which one to go to."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily paused as she looked at the halls of the temple, was this temple purposefully made to get lost in? Every corridor looks exactly the same and there didn't seem to any real signs to her that they were making any real progress. Besides the passing of people who she sheepishly gave a small wave to.

While Lily introduced herself to Colette, she was not a big talker or wanting to start conversations with strangers while on the hunt for a cantina so she could get tea. Especially since she was already feeling a little overwhelmed and lost in the temple as it was.

Looking at the two directions, people heading mostly down. That was signs of a popular or preferred cantina but it also leads to the idea of a much busier time there. Queues, loud noise and difficulties in seat locations.

"I think going up is preferred for me." Lily commented as she started heading up, still leading the way though her stomach was flipping around with nerves.

There was a lot more people, a lot more talking than she was use to.

Colette

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

Up the stairs. Upstairs. Great. Colette's entire body screamed with each step that she took, but the instructor had told her this was to be expected. Something about damage and the body repairing itself. Made no sense to her, but then very little did about any of this. Mind powers and lightsabers were a very different world from sands and survival.

Still, at least Lily seemed about as enthused about all the people as Colette was. In retrospect, knowing this, it almost felt cruel to have forced her to take the lead. By the time they reached the level that they were going for, Colette placed herself at the top of the stairs and beckoned for Lily to follow. Not because she particularly enjoyed it but because some part of her felt obligated to with the newfound guilt.

"I think it was around here." Colette said as they stepped into a wide open area. Sure enough it was the very same Cantina as she has been to with Master Noble. "I think Master Noble got her tea from a machine over there," Colette said and pointed towards a bulky machine that clearly spelled out 'warm water'. "They also have caf, if you drink that."

Caf was too bitter for Colette's taste. Which was beyond the fact that both tea and caf felt like poor excuses to contaminate the water under an illusion of "taste."

"I… Don't think I want anything." She said and pushed towards the machine. "Tried it once and I had problems staying still for hours afterwards."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily noticed the idea of climbing stairs had not appealed to Colette and made sure to note that down as something to ask once they settled in the cantina. Perhaps it was due to the different gravity from her homeworld or something else that caused climbing stairs to be an unpleasant experience.

Looking around for the cantina, Lily appreciated Colette taking the lead and guiding her to the cantina. Pointing out the machine that processed the tea and caf, Lily's heart sank a little. She was not a fan of machine processed tea, there always felt something lacking. It was also unlikely to have the type of tea that she was a fan of.

"Hmmm..." Lily was in deep thought as she scrolled through the options, seeing if there were different available types of tea and what the selection was like. It was pretty bare but there was a couple that she hadn't heard of that grabbed her curiosity. She selected a safer, calming tea to start with. Something to soothe her anxieties.

Smiling, "my aunt drinks enough caf for the whole temple probably." Lily gave a little soft chuckle, "I prefer tea, the variations and health benefits are much more appealing though having to make a decision after a stressful day can be daunting." Lily explained in her soft tone.

"Well, might want to try a tea lacking caffeine? That tends to be in standard teas and caf." Lily suggested, pausing to inhale the fumes of the tea and allowing it to relax her shoulders.

"I noticed you struggled with the stairs, is that due to the gravity? Sorry if that is intruding, I was just curious and wanted to find somewhere comfort to sit before asking." Lily stated as she gestured to a sitting area for them to take.

Colette

 

[Colette]

This wasn't the first time that Lily seemed to mention her aunt. Colette noticed the way that she seemed to be someone of great importance to the Echani, and if she drank enough caf for the whole temple that would seem to imply that she had access to it, right?

While Colette doubted the benefits of tea, she withheld this opinion. There was no need to burn that bridge. It still just felt like contamination to her. The fact that she was even drinking this much water felt like a crime. Growing up it had always been a precious commodity. To share water was to give life. It was an almost sacred ritual between prospecting friendships to offer it.

As such, she took two cups from a nearby cupboard and brought them with her as the two found somewhere to sit.

"No, it's…" She exhaled with a slight chuckle and put the two cups before her as she took her seat. "I am not used to all this exercise."

They took their seats by one of the windows out towards the Coruscanti skyline. It was all still such a weird sight to Colette, like a planet of metallic mountains and vehicular rivers. All artificial, nothing natural.

Before Lily could speak, Colette began to pour some water into the cups from her bottle and gently pushed one over.

"Back home it is tradition to have a drink of water with new friends." She said and smiled. "I would be really happy if you…"

"I mean—"

"If you want."

Lily Decoria

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily nodded her head, it was a fair point to have. She was only as fit as she was due to the training and constant exercising she did every morning so it was rare to see her out of breath or struggling with daily activities.

Looking at the water curiously, Lily tilted her head then looked back at Colette, the explanation of the tradition to share water between new friends was odd. Water was such a basic commodity and usually very abundant, unless you were from a desert world, though Colette's description of her homeworld included a desert there were other areas that should have plenty of water. However, it seemed to be a luxury to build traditions around and Lily couldn't deny that traditions were not important, her own people's were very important to her family.

"I would be honoured." Lily take the cup and lifting it with a smile. She took a sip of the water, allowing herself to enjoy the moment of drinking water, there was little enjoy in taste but it was allowing herself to be in the moment.

Looking over to Colette, "Well, back on Eshan, our traditions state that to truly know someone, to bond as friends," and more intimately than friends, Lily added to herself, "one must spar with one another. Allows us to express ourselves in the truest of ways and there is nothing held back. However, not expecting you to jump into a sparring ring with me." Lily laughed softly.

She finished the water and delicately placed the cup back in it's place before sitting back.

"Do you have many traditions amongst your people?" Lily asked curious.

 

[Colette]

Lily Decoria

It felt good to have the tradition respected even if it made little sense outside of home. It was like a shot of home without really having the chance to go home because, well, it was never in just one place. It was on one planet, but never in one place.

"Good." Colette smiled back with a queasy smile. "I don't think I'd be much of a match."

"There are a few traditions. Most of them depend on where you are from, but all of them were about nature." Colette said and continued to smile. "The forest tribes shared seedlings with one another and the desert clans shared water."

"We tried to live with nature as a part of it rather than to struggle against it." Colette was positively lost in her thoughts of home by now. "We took no more than we needed and we gave back what we could provide. Not just to our environment but the other clans as well."

And then she frowned as she looked out across Coruscant again.

"It's different from out here where people seem to kill each other over words they didn't mean and things that they don't need."

 

[Lily Decoria]

Lily studied Colette briefly before she leaned back a bit. "Echani sparring isn't about winners and losers, it is a conversation. Communicate personal aspects of your life as you fight. Many outsiders fall for the simplistic and competitive view on sparring and fighting. That isn't how Echani fight, that wouldn't be how our spar would go."

Listening to the different traditions, different groups of people that lived on Colette's homeworld. It sounded curious, varied and deeply intriguing. "That is very interesting and it is probably going to be a lot of fun to meet others from different worlds and cultures, learning their traditions and bonding." Lily's mind wondered to the number of strangers who could have wildly different lifestyles and preferences. The thought had her heart racing a little with anxiety at the thought of having to adapt to all the changes.

She paused and thought about how different things were from what Colette described and how the wider galaxy worked. "It does seem that your home is idyllic. Unfortunately there seems to be people who refuse to accept peace or wish to live in safety, they rather create chaos." Lily paused then took a sip of her tea. "Perhaps it is due to our differences, that some cannot, will not, overcome them?"

It was a thought, but she was never too sure. The tea was acceptable though, already soothing her somewhat.

Colette