Faction Born in Winter [NJO]

[Henna Sarratt]

Meridional Ice Cap, Tython
TEACH

​

Flakes of white fell upon the group of Jedi, melting just as soon as they touched. The silvery ship sat in the distance, a few stragglers still marching their way through the banks to join the class. The peaks of the ice cap rose from behind where the teachers stood. The force was not marred by the cold- Tython, even in its icy heights, was a pillar of light.

Henna felt the blustery wind hit her cheeks, sending a shiver down her spine. Copper eyes swept across the group in front of her. She wondered if the excitement had died at all with the arrival in the tundra- when one thought Tython, this was certainly not what came to mind. The consular has purposely shrouded the day in mystery. She was certain there would have been no willing participants had they known the details of their location. However, the inhospitable environment offered a chance to pass on knowledge, as did what they had really come for.

“Alright, we won’t dawdle, I’m sure none of us want to freeze out here.” She teased with a warm smile. “With the development of recent events, such as the war and rumblings about the New Jedi, we must each look inside ourselves to ensure we walk the path of Light.”

The statement was met with a groan, but the source couldn’t be discerned.

“I know, I know- but I promise, it’s not going to be your typical self-reflection. Tython is a holy land, and as we revisit the roots of the Jedi, we will utilize them as a guide to aid us. However, before we can dive in, you all must know how to survive in this environment.” The woman turned to her partner beside her. “Would you like to introduce them to the technique, Knight Ashina?”​

 

[Inosuke Ashina]

Fleeting clouds of warm breath expelled and dispersed from Inosuke’s nose in a steady rhythm. The brim of his hood billowed and undulated against Tython’s frigid gale, forcing him to adjust the fabrics over his crown at regular frequency. Snowfall quelled visibility to a hazy gray beyond more than a few meters. Hard to appreciate a place you can barely see. It was well below freezing too, as was to be expected of a glacier, the cold here felt like it could freeze a matchstick. A lit matchstick.

“Would you like to introduce them to the technique, Knight Ashina?”[​

Inosuke turned, offered a single nod, stepped ahead of the group. He threw down his hood, exposing ears and thin flesh to the bite of wind. With a fluid motion of either hand, the cloak around his body fell to the snow beneath. Unremarkable Jedi garb beneath now exposed, leaving him thoroughly underdressed for the temperature. Despite that, the Knight seemed unphased as the clouds of breath grew larger and larger.

“Tapas,” he explained vaguely, illuminating the identity of the technique. “Light begets warmth. Draw on it, focus inward, and you’ll retain all of your own heat.” A sweeping glance went across those gathered in the snow.

“Cloaks off!”

 

[Thalia Senn]

Inosuke Ashina Henna Sarratt
​

Thalia would have done anything to get off of Coruscant. Sitting around, meditating, and swinging a practice saber around with unselected padawans and younglings had long since lost its appeal and sitting around waiting for her master to return was starting to drain her of motivation to even get up in the morning sometimes. However, when she heard Tython she was hoping for a trip to...Well anywhere besides this Storms forsaken place. There were literally dozens of temples on the planet; From the Nine Temples of the Je'Daii to the strongholds of the ancient Jedi Lords. Even a visit to Ashla's Embrace would have been preferable, even if she thought those monk people were a bit on the strange side.

She shivered, a reminder of the cold. She had it better than some of the others though. A lot of the older Padawans were into body-clinging suits, utility jumpsuits, and tight leather pants and jackets and were woefully unprepared for this, even if they had donned a robe over their more "modern" outfits. Classic Jedi Robes and field outfits were a lot more functional than some of the Circle would have people believe. Even still, it was blazing cold up here. She rubbed her arms together and led the groan when Master Sarratt started talking about rumblings and New Jedi Order politics. Why couldn't they all just be Jedi? It seemed so simple to her young mind. She was lost in thought about this when she heard:

“Cloaks off!”

​

More groans from the collective of Padawans.

"You must be Stormin' crazy if you think I'm leaving my cloak to go climbing in the stormin' mountains in the middle'o'nowhere." She shook her head. "No way, we'll freeze. Especially the poor idiots who've only got a skintight layer of synthleather for pants."

 

[Zak Dymo]

“Alright, we won’t dawdle, I’m sure none of us want to freeze out here.” She teased with a warm smile. “With the development of recent events, such as the war and rumblings about the New Jedi, we must each look inside ourselves to ensure we walk the path of Light.” ​

The statement was met with a groan, but the source couldn’t be discerned.

Yep. That was Zak.

Head rolled back, the abyssal-eyed aquatic looked up at the sky as though begging the Force to just take him now.

He thought he'd signed up for some real Jedi chit type training. For starters, they were out in the tundra. On Tython. Think about that. It was like the set-up for every sweet as training montage in every action holo-vid ever. The whole set-up right now was prepped to be totes B.A. and this schutta came off the top rope with the walk the path of Light speech.

Like, for real, for real, had he hopped along for training and landed at Jedi Meditation Camp instead?

Why were Jedi like this? It never failed. The secret to being the most Sith-stomping brickhouse mo-fo to ever slap a Bith was locked behind sitting quietly, or reading, or meditating, or something even more boring than meditating.

Which, Zak wasn't sure there was anything more boring than meditating. But, if there was anything more boring than meditating, he trusted that the Jedi would find it.

“I know, I know- but I promise, it’s not going to be your typical self-reflection.”

Well, at least Jedi Master Path of Light had some good self-awareness. Except, then she kept talking.

Stop talkin'. Get to steppin.

When she finally deferred to some Knight Ashina brah, Zak found himself craning his neck back in order to look up at some brickhouse Epicanthix-looking nerf herder. Okay. Master Walk The Path Of Light had Zak's curiosity, but this mo'fo had Zak's attention.

He just looked like a Jedi Guardian.

Wait, tapas? What?

The puzzled expression on the boy's face only increased as cloaks were cast aside. A hesitating hand coming up to his shoulder as he numbly started to remove his own cloak. Internally, his mind was still trying to grasp what was happening right now.

The concept was familiar enough. Zak dealt with temperatures like these underwater, particularly at depth. But that was the ocean environment. Any aquatic learned to regulate their bodies under those conditions.

But up here? I mean, there was water but all of it was frozen.

So... how exactly was this going to work?

As he cast aside his cloak, Zak hung his head as the answer came to him. And that was, probably through some meditation nerf chit.

Because Jedi.​

 

[Inosuke Ashina]

"You must be Stormin' crazy if you think I'm leaving my cloak to go climbing in the stormin' mountains in the middle'o'nowhere. No way, we'll freeze. Especially the poor idiots who've only got a skintight layer of synthleather for pants."

"You'll be fine, Thalia," he assured calmly. Arms slowly crossed over his chest as a gesture of visual admonition. No one in their right mind would want to go without an extra layer in this, so in that regard, Thalia couldn't be faulted for reluctance. Still, one had to consider the circumstance of having a way around becoming a human icicle. Jedi often did things that the average person would consider out of their right mind.

"A cloak will only buy you time in this weather. You should trust us if you wish to remain thawed," he implored, his tone halfway between fact and jest. A stray, snowy zephyr blew across where the group was assembled, biting icy fangs into the flesh of the unprepared. Inosuke remained stalwart, seemingly unphased by the elements, adding credence to his words.

"The technique isn't that difficult, I'll walk you through it. You may put the cloak back on when you get the hang of Tapas if you wish, but the longer we debate the longer everyone else has to shiver."

Henna Sarratt Thalia Senn Zak Dymo​

 

[Henna Sarratt]

Meridional Ice Cap, Tython
TEACH

​

"A cloak will only buy you time in this weather. You should trust us if you wish to remain thawed,"

"He's right," She reiterated after a moment, urging those who still seemed fearful. "It's little more than a safety blanket. It will not protect you from death, not here. You must not place your trust in materialistic objects, Thalia. It will only hinder you. Trust in the force instead, and let it shield you."

Henna unfastened her own cloak, allowing it to fall to the ground. The chill bit through the thin robes that fell over her form. She began to walk, drawing away from the front of the group. Her gaze still remained planted on those she was speaking to.

"Close your eyes- you'll have an easier time concentrating. It won't be necessary in the future, but while learning, you must ensure you can hold on to that lifeline without distractions from the outside world.

Take a deep breath." There was a pause as she drew in her own exasperated inhale. "And let it out. Think not on the chill- on any of the things you may feel. Allow only yourself, the light, and our voices."​

 

[Thalia Senn]

Henna Sarratt Inosuke Ashina Zak Dymo
​

Thalia sucked her teeth at the two masters. The other padawans had already taken off their cloaks if they had one and so she had to, or get left behind on this Force forsaken mountain. She shrugged the brown, heavy, warm cloak from her shoulders and watched sadly as it fell to the white snow. She shivered immediately and put her hands in front of her face, breathing on her fingers to keep them warm.

"Crazy, this is crazy. The lot of you are stormin' airsick," she muttered as she closed her eyes and began her Jedi breathing excesise. She tried to do what they said, she really did. She put the thought of cold out of her mind and tried to focus on the Force, but even that, appearing as a raging sea in her mind's eye, was cold. It was like sailing in the middle of the weeping. Cold sea spray reminded her of the falling snow and the icy water pooling in her craft was like the snow of the mountain.

Her teeth began to chatter.

This wasn't working, but she pinched her eyes shut tighter, as if focusing harder would help.

 

[Zak Dymo]

"Crazy, this is crazy. The lot of you are stormin' airsick,"

Lady, these was Jedi.

Now, be honest, this was not the craziest chit a Jedi had ever done. They were lucky they weren't also standing under a glacial waterfall for added what the kark flavoring.

Though, admittedly, Zak might not have complained about that. Right now the only water was the ice forming inside his gills as his head-tails started to turn into icicles. His teeth were chattering as the boy shivered and hugged himself for warmth.

"Take a deep breath."

Brickhaus wanted them to focus on the light. Master Path of Light wanted them to do breathing exercises. What, even, were they doing right now? Also, was Zak supposed to be focusing on the light, like the Light Side of the Force? Like the light of day? the light of the sun? How many suns did Tython have?

Why did every Jedi ever just assume that everyone understood what the light was supposed to mean? Was Zak flipping a light switch? Was it like a zero-calorie version of the Force?

What were they doing again? Oh, yeah, breathing. Or the light. Were they breathing the light? What would that even mean?

Craning his head around, the boy's abyssal black eyes surveyed the padawans around him. People were actually just... breathing. So, yeah, maybe that's what they were doing right now.

Closing his eyes, the boy opened his mouth and inhaled a deep breath...

...and quickly lurched forward wheezing.

"Think not on the chill..."

Yeah. The sharp, thousand needles sensation of breathing in the cold, arctic air was just weakness leaving the body.
​

Thalia Senn Henna Sarratt Inosuke Ashina​

 

[Mrurh'en'lase | Hel]

Zak Dymo | Thalia Senn | Henna Sarratt | Inosuke Ashina
​

The chill of Tython's ice cap nipped at the exposed flesh of her arms and hands and face, icing them in spite of her Chiss descent. The wind pelted her cloak with enough force that it wrapped forward and around her legs, which themselves trudged slowly through the snow. The group ahead moved faster than her through the exercise that they had been selected for, leaving her somewhat behind. Yet, she cared not. In fact, she anti-cared and was perfectly fine with letting the group ahead trudge along to the peak of this iced mountain. All Padawan Mrurh'en'lase really cared for was enjoying the emotional aspects of the situation at hand rather than the negative aspects of her immediate environment.

It had been far too long since she had last stepped away from the healers and overseers of Coruscant's Jedi Temple, and even longer since she had stepped foot outside of that building entirely. A somber and unmerciful thing, she had decided in one of her earlier angsty diatribes. Despite the physical developments that she had gained during her lengthy stay in recovery - marked quite noticeably in her arms which were barely constrained in her robes under the cloak and had become heavily tattooed in the forearm and bicep area (how she received these was never revealed to her guardians) - everything else was wretched. Stoved up with only select halls to roam; limited access to the libraries and archives; a very, very strict sleep and eat and training schedule; and nightmares that never seemed to fully go away.

To be granted the opportunity to finally breathe fresh air - cold as it was - and get away from that was a fantastic thing, and not one she would allow any other to take her place in. A chance that could - and did - whisk her away for but a moment from the infernal ramblings of the Dark Side's dangers and the ordeals she "refused to let go of" from the battle of Ziost. A battle that left her troubled and, in some ways, broken. And the spittle and meanderings of dodgy old Jedi who rarely left their chambers would not do her any good, though. Pleasant and caring as they were, they could not pierce the stubborn resolve of the young woman, although this was something she actively refused to think on. As in, with great effort did she actively not think on how it was her own fault that she refused to let their words work at healing her. It was honestly quite impressive.

Still, while those words may have worked, the only thing that could truly aid in her healing process was the outside. The Galaxy at large. Exploration of the unknown to all, but the known to everyone but her. She despised exploring the known to everyone including her for there was no mystery involved. Today was a mystery, for she had never been to Tython, nor was she really sure of what was going to happen when her care for the group ahead "returned" and she caught up to join in the exercise. Luckily for her, a sharp howl of crisp air against her body made that care storm back into the frontal cortex rather quickly, and the Hybrid rushed quickly to rejoin the rag-tag band of other Padawans, a Knight, and a Consular.

They had already begun their conversation when she heard the Knight - a fellow by the name of Inosuke Ashina - give the order.

“Cloaks off!”

While others complained and stamped their feet in the snow, she made no fuss about doing as requested. The cold air hit the full length of her arms and face like a frozen wall, but she refrained from making even a peep. She was Chiss, and Chiss were from Csilla - a world she would never visit so long as she lived. Then came the instructions, which some people still had difficulty following without snarky comments. Normally, that role would have been occupied by herself, but something about today just made her want to...remain quiet and appreciate the world around her - despite its frigid nature.

Her eyes closed and the voices of the complaining Padawans began to fade further and further into the soup of muffled vibrations until...it all became nothing. The chilled air remained, piercing her skin like frozen flames, but at least the chattering had gone.

 

[Viers Connory]

//: Mrurh'en'lase | Hel //: Thalia Senn //: Zak Dymo
//: Henna Sarratt //: Inosuke Ashina //:

​

Tython’s ice cap was literally the ninth level of Chaos. Thoughts questioned the young K’paur’s mentality in deciding to tag along for the training session. Kiran, her mentor, had already taught her most of the essential skills Viers needed. It was hard to pass up a chance to be surrounded by others like her, to spend time with familiar faces and meet new ones.

Viers wrapped the cloak tightly around her slender frame, doing its best to shield her from the elements. Already as they continued to move, she could feel the sharp pains in her chest from her twin hearts trying to keep up to keep her warm. At this point, breathing was starting to hurt, and the girl wanted to hide it, blending the attempt at tapas with force body. At least as she tried to stay warm, she would be able to keep herself conscious.

“Cloaks off.” A voice cut through the breeze and the concentration of the disciple. Viers looked towards the source of the voice. The man’s face was stern, and it reminded her of Kiran. She groaned, knowing that people with a stone face were unlikely to enjoy any nonsense. Thalia’s voice echoed among the voices that were starting to chatter, she mused, doing her best not to laugh. Slowly she shrugged the cloak off and tucked it into her satchel that hung at her side. The strap of the bag was secured over her shoulder and behind the force imbued quarterstaff.

Almost instantly, the cold froze the girl to her bones. Her chest grew tighter, and her breathing became shallow. Focus. Viers tried clearing her mind, erasing the panic and slowing her heart rate. Exhaling, she shuddered while feeling the cold continue to bite at her appendages. With every exhale, she pushed her bandaged hands outward, then brought them in on the inhale. The small mantra calmed her mind and eased her breathing, allowing her to focus on the technique the Jedi were teaching.

Starting at her core, Viers could feel the beginnings of the warmth the Knight was speaking about. It moved from her waist to her chest, where it paused. The tightness she was feeling soon dissipated, but moving it farther into her body was going to take more concentration. Viers was struggling to try to push the sounds of Thalia’s and Zak’s voices. Chewing on the inside of her mouth, she continued to try and tune them out.​

 

[Henna Sarratt]

Henna's walk continued, offering encouraging nods and smiles to the group- whilst the skill level required for tapas was next to naught, the bravery it took to follow directions was not lost on her. Just as she began to speak again, she noticed the smallest padawan's fall. Her eyes widened as she rushed through the class to kneel in front of him. She did prefer to throw one in the deep end, but she wouldn't allow them to drown. Taking his head in her hands, she began to speak once more.

"We must adjust the boundary of where out mind meets the force, allowing it access to our bodies. As you focus, I want you to move closer and closer to it's light, until it can be felt in your very own body, warming it."

As she spoke, she followed her own guidance, attempting to aid the padawan. The beautiful orchestra was all around her, but distance. Following it's haunting noise, it became louder and louder, until finally, she was close enough. As the warmth began to spread, rising from her chest and extending to her arms, her own delicate piano could be heard joining in.

"There, there." She murmured to Zak Dymo as he too would feel the warmth move from her hands to his own head and chest. As a few moments passed, she noticed the heavy beating of a lively drum beginning to grow. Looking to Veirs, she offered a slow nod.

"That's the way," Henna urged.

 

[Inosuke Ashina]

"We must adjust the boundary of where out mind meets the force, allowing it access to our bodies. As you focus, I want you to move closer and closer to it's light, until it can be felt in your very own body, warming it."

Inosuke raised a brow as he glanced sidelong at Henna. It seemed she insistent on spiritual vagueness rather than a clear, practical explanation. She was a Master, so perhaps it wasn't his place to question the effectiveness of speaking in meta-physical metaphor.

Then again, he would prefer not to see a student devolve into a hypothermic panic.

"Heat naturally moves toward the absence of itself. Your body is radiating heat because the air around you lacks it," he explained. Leaning down, he scooped up a palmful of snow, clenched it tightly in his fist. "Similarly to how you'd use the force to influence an object and manipulate it, you must do the same with your own personal warmth. Restrain it, don't let it go anywhere."

"It's about as difficult as it sounds, but it certainly isn't beyond any of your capabilities."

He opened his hand after a moment, snow in his fist entirely unchanged in volume or composition. "You shouldn't even be able to melt snow in your hand if you're implementing the technique properly. When you think you've got it down, we will use that as our aptitude test."

 

[Mrurh'en'lase | Hel]

Zak Dymo | Thalia Senn | Henna Sarratt | Inosuke Ashina | Viers Connory ​

Stillness. The sweet, cool embrace of the Fall nights of places you've never been. Of places you will never go. Enjoy this brief flash of it while you can, little mouse.

Silence and calmness were rarities for Mrurh'en'lase even when she was alone in the "comfort" of her own private quarters or rented hotel and/or motel rooms. Luxuries, really, that she tried her damndest to gain and maintain, trying to keep the evil that perverted her mind at bay, the memories of her sins before the Jedi. Today was no different in that regard and she hoped - in her own mute way - that she would be able to keep up her isolation from the others around her.

Initially and surprisingly, she maintained this quite well for roughly two or so minutes, although she felt little in the ways of warming herself up or keeping her pre-existing warmth intact. This annoyed her quite intensely - an annoyance that would eventually mutate into indignation that would ruin her slowly developing, but developing, understanding of Tapas. Much of this annoyance came from her being half-Chiss, and perhaps even some other genetic ancestry thanks to her Zeltron DNA.

The young Padawan expected to have at least some form of resistant traits to the frigid elements because of the hardiest side of her bloodline. Csilla being the frozen homeworld of the Chiss should at least have produced some credence to this understandable - if naive - expectation. This not being the case was frustrating, to say the least, and, as mentioned earlier, the annoyance began to mutate. Sweet isolation from the noise of the other Jedi that she attempted to keep up and strong sloughed away like rotten flesh. The darkness of her closed eyes filled with the whiteness of the snow and the clear blue icecap as her lids opened slowly.

A groan - low at first, then louder near the end as the voices grew to stinging nails in her ears, particularly that of Knight Ashina - escaped her mouth involuntarily. Impatience of a magnificently - almost godly - large scale whenever things did not go her way immediately was...a strong fault with the young Padawan. This became much more obvious when her stance shifted from the proper style of tapas into a petulant, foot-tapping, cross-armed slouch accompanied by slight shivers as she braced the cold. The attitude of a child in the body of a giantess, more or less, made for quite vexatious incidents such as this, although this was - thankfully - rather low on the scale of what she was normally capable of doing.

 

[Thalia Senn]

Inosuke Ashina Mrurh'en'lase | Hel Henna Sarratt Viers Connory Zak Dymo ​

"Heat naturally moves toward the absence of itself. Your body is radiating heat because the air around you lacks it," he explained. Leaning down, he scooped up a palmful of snow, clenched it tightly in his fist. "Similarly to how you'd use the force to influence an object and manipulate it, you must do the same with your own personal warmth. Restrain it, don't let it go anywhere."

Don't let it go. Just like riding a Jialgheer up the side of a cliff. Don't let go of the reins. Luckily, if she couldn't figure this out she wouldn't plummet to a rocky, salty death and could just throw on her cloak. Thalia wasn't a spiritual Jedi though. She liked and enjoyed things she could see, touch, or experience and the visual, literal way Inosuke spoke of the technique was extremely helpful.

She picked up some snow and formed it into a poor excuse for a snowball. When she closed her eyes and pretended to be holding onto something tight she felt herself transferred back onto the ocean of the Force, holding tight onto the rigging of her craft. She felt the warmth constrict and retreat and when she opened her eyes the lumpy snowball hadn't left a single drop of wetness on her hand.

"That's crash!" she shouted triumphantly before flinging the snow at Inosuke. "Storms, I didn't think that would work!" She grinned. "I know we didn't come here just to strip, so where are we going?"

 

[Zak Dymo]

These air gulpers were all crazy.

Wait, Zak was breathing air at the moment as well. Did that make him crazy?

Well, it would explain his being on the side of a mountain without a cloak on. As well as his choice of company. Or religious preference in general.

Zak was still coughing from the effects of the cold air on his lungs, but was aided by a helping hand from Master Path of Light ( Henna Sarratt ). Who, as usual, was, like, Jedi to the max.

"We must adjust the boundary of where our mind meets the force, allowing it access to our bodies."

Black, abyssal eyes just blinked as he looked up at the woman with his mouth agape. What in the Hutt had this lady just said to them? Adjust the what where the mind meets the Force? Number one, where did the mind meet the Force? Was it like for coffee? Was the Force rolling through his head? Was that a thing? Number two....

...actually, Zak didn't have anything for number two. He was kinda hung up on number one. In fact, he might not have heard anything after the where the mind meets the Force part, which was also more than his usual attention span. So, there was that.

"As you focus, I want you to move closer and closer to it's light, until it can be felt in your very own body, warming it."

Bruh. Like, for real. The Nautolan's icy head-tails bounce as the boy looked over at Obi-SWOLE Kenobi ( Inosuke Ashina ) as if to ask, I'm thirteen and what is this?

"Heat naturally moves toward the absence of itself. Your body is radiating heat because the air around you lacks it."

This brah was totes a Jedi Guardian. If he wasn't, then he should be.

Don't let the heat go. Keep the heat in your body.

The aquatic could understand that. It was just like in the water. Except, this was air, but don't let the air sap the heat away was a close enough parallel to Zak's every day under 30 meters.

Now that he knew what he was doing, it was time to reach out to the Force. Which meant, it was time for some music. Plucking a pair of headphones from off a pouch on his belt, the Nautolan's thumb brushed against the music player as he slid them into place on the sides of his head. As the song started out, it was slow. But that gave the boy time to start over with a deep breath.

The beat dropped. The child's shoulders popped and locked as the green-skinned youth swayed from side to side. His eyes closed, he felt it. Stretching out around them. Connecting them. Flowing through the planet. Flowing through each of them.

The flow. The interaction between his body and the world around him. Arms up by his side, the boy's head bobbed along with the beat as he focused on the exchange taking place between his body and the planet. It wasn't quite the same, but he was following along now.

He heard Thalia Senn blurt out something, but it was lost in the music. Reaching up a hand, the boy popped one side of the headphones askew so that he could hear the group around him better -- while not completely tuning out the music.

Thalia seemed like she was further along than the Nautolan was, and excited at the progress. Zak was just starting to grasp the fundamentals and this shutta was already asking what was next.

The Nautolan's eye swirls seem to spin within their inky orbits, the species equivalent of rolling his eyes. He glanced over at Viers Connory and Mrurh'en'lase | Hel

Were they also ready to move on? If Zak was lagging behind that would be...

...well, honestly, about par for the course when it came to non-hitting things with lightsaber type stuff.

 

[Henna Sarratt]

A bright beam took her face as she looked at each of the padawans. Thalia's bass strummed with Tython's rhythm. Hel's eery piano was both melancholic and captivating. Zak's guitar was beginning to join his counterpart, though was quieter than the others.

"Keep going," She encouraged in a whisper. "Sometimes, it just takes practice."

She stood and moved away from him now that he seemed alright, offering him privacy from the groups prying eyes as she diverted their attention.

"No, we didn't come here just to strip." She said with a grin and a shake of her head. "Speaking of- you may put your cloaks back on, should you desire."

She finally arrived next to Inosuke, offering the knight a nod.

"A padawan's journey is one of transformation. A seed of hope grows inside each of you, and one day, shall bloom into a tree to shelter those who need it most. However, roots can rot. The rise of zealotry and hatred in our order has not gone unnoticed. We would be remiss not to intervene. I must urge you all, this is not our way. Should we be taken by passion in our battle, we risk becoming the very thing our order has combatted for so long."

Henna turned and began to ascend the path to the mountain, before turning back to gesture the group.

"The force is not ignorant to our struggle. We are not the first to face this junction, nor will we be the last; but it is pivotal we follow the light." She paused as the wind kicked up, waiting for it to die once more before continuing. "An ancient structure lies in the mountains. It's origin is unknown, but it allows Ashla to see all. She will allow you to see any errors made, and guide you to where you are meant to be."

It would sound crazy to Henna even, had she not seen it herself.

"Questions, concerns?"

There would surely be some.