Private Clarity

[Valery Noble]

Spintir | Dawn Temple

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Tag: Ryv

The Second Great Hyperspace war is over, the Maw is defeated and much of the Alliance is enjoying a time of peace. Far away in the Outer Rim, however, another group of Sith has already started to expand its influence, and once again, it seemed that the cyclic nature of war with the Sith continues. It would only be a matter of time before the Alliance would have to address them, but Valery knew she didn't have the luxury of waiting; of spending too much of her time embracing the end of a bloody conflict that had claimed countless lives.

So in the aftermath of yet another mission into the Outer Rim, as well as several other journeys into former Maw space to clean up some of their remnants, Valery decided to travel away from the front. She needed some time to think and center herself again, so she could confront the various threats and problems with the clarity expected from her. It meant briefly leaving behind her family, who also relied heavily on her presence, but they knew she needed this as well.

"It has been too long," Valery muttered to herself, as she sat atop a rock just outside the Dawn Temple and glanced across the valley below. The Temple had once been built in these mountains to help Jedi reconnect with the Light Side of the Force, and while it was no longer actively being used, Valery had spent about a year here after she was rescued from her stasis pod. To center herself as well.

This time, however, she wasn't planning to spend her time in solitude. There were few Masters left older and more experienced than she was that she could turn to for advice or just a new perspective. But she knew about one Jedi who she had never properly met, but absolutely understood what the Galaxy was like from her point of view. After all, she had taken up the mantle he once carried.

So as her eyes closed and her mind drifted off into the endless currents of the Force, she made her attempt to summon him.

 

[Ryv]

"There's a perfectly good Temple right in front of you, y'know?"

The voice sounded from nearby the Jedi Master. It was distant; something heard faintly over the sound of the wind as it rolled through the snow-covered landscape. To Valery’s ears, the voice was not that of a seasoned Jedi Master, nor was it what one would expect of a man who sacrificed himself against the greatest evil of this age. No, the voice belonged to someone far younger than that.

Stepping into view, one hand tucked into an oversized leather jacket, the other missing entirely, Ryv cocked his head to the side with a grimace. He was not the Jedi Master who died on Tython. Nor was he the confident leader who found himself beside the likes of Irveric Tavlar or Emmen Tagge. No, no, the ‘man’ before Valery Noble was no older than nineteen. It was the same ‘man’ who wandered the halls of Peace long ago, dubbed the Sword of the Jedi well before he could even begin to fathom what that meant.

“Don’t get me wrong, I did the stoic, suffer-in-silence thing, too, but its warmer in there than it is out here, and if I’m gonna have to do this ‘from beyond the grave’ crap, I’d prefer to enjoy it,” Ryv spoke with the cadence of a man who knew the significance of each word he uttered. He turned to the door and lazily flicked a spectral hand to the side. The massive door careened inward in response, thudding loudly against the wall at its side.

Striding into the temple, the force spirit turned back to Valery, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. He could feel the wellspring of emotion deep within the Jedi Master like it were his own.

“Alright, let's get this over with,” Ryv pulled his scarred hand from his jacket and scratched at a series of fine, web-like scars crisscrossing the left side of his jaw and down his throat. “If I’m here, it's cause the Force deemed someone is supposed to be here to help you,” he gesticulated wildly around him, the motions over-exaggerated in the way you’d expect a young adult to be.

“Weird it was me, though,” he sniffed the air. “Plenty of people on the other side who’d make for a better shoulder, methinks.”

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Spintir | Dawn Temple

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Tag: Ryv

"Sometimes, I prefer the freedom of being outside, even if it's cold," Valery said as if she was talking to some Padawan who had come outside just to poke a little bit of fun at her. But when she shifted from her meditation and realized where she was again, and who she had been trying to contact, she understood something else had happened. He had appeared to meet her, but not in a form she was expecting.

He looked much younger, and beaten to hell by war — an image that strongly reminded her of her younger self.

"I didn't think Temperatures still affected you," she then added, before rising up to her feet. Valery then watched the doors of the Temple open again and followed him inside into familiar halls. Not long ago, they had been at the point of collapse, but with some help from the locals who lived at the foot of the mountain, it could once again serve those in need.

The doors soon closed behind them, and Valery spent just a moment looking at the young 'man' in front of her. She wondered if it was just a chosen appearance, or if she was talking to him the way he had been a long time ago as well. "I have good people around me for support," Valery then began, as he briefly thought about her husband and friends. "But familiarity doesn't always measure up to a fresh perspective," she said.

He knew her struggles. Ryv had lived the life of the Sword, perhaps starting when he was too young to truly understand it and sacrificed everything at Tython to stop Solipsis and honor that title. Valery had done the same at Exegol when she struck down the Maw's Wrath and purged the planet with a Wall of Light. But she was still standing here today.

 

[Ryv]

"The Force Ghost thing is probably different for everybody," Ryv began, accompanied by the most casual shrug he could muster. "The Force is just about everywhere. It's in just about everything. It’s cold, hot, hell, it can even be room temperature, but that’s probably, well- a result of the room,” he snorted in a failed attempt to choke back a laugh and opted instead to scan their surroundings.

Much like everything else the apparition did, he carried himself with all the expertise and decorum of a Padawan out on their first excursion, but his eyes told a very different story. Even in death, the late Sword of the Jedi searched every shadow with cold efficiency.

“But uh- yeah, the cold isn’t the best thing in the world, don’t get me wrong, but I’m a big fan of feeling things the way I did in life when I can,” Ryv twirled on the ball of his lead foot and turned back to face the trailing Valery with surprising grace. “So, before we get started with this whole endeavor, helping you find your reason, or clarity, or whatever it is you’re here for, I gotta ask,” he leaned forward only for his body to flicker out of existence and reappear inches from her, his amber gaze burning bright against the backdrop of his cerulean form.

“You’re super conflicted on this peace time thing,” he leaned closer, hovering within her personal space at this point. “Which is weird, cause Peace? That’s not real. Not in the way you conceive it, anyway, so tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours. Why are you here looking for me when there are a thousand battles across the galaxy you're needed at right now?"

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Spintir | Dawn Temple

​

Tag: Ryv

Valery snickered a little at his response to her comment about temperatures, but was quick to dip her head as well. "I've only ever seen one other Force Ghost and it was a very different experience. The Force and its mysteries, I suppose." She continued to follow him while they talked, and noted the way he scanned his surroundings. Awareness was a crucial trait for any Jedi to develop, and despite the young appearance, she could tell an experienced and calculated mind rested behind those eyes.

"It's not a big deal to me, and if you've never seen this Temple before, I'm sure it'll be more interesting than looking into another valley as well," she then said, right as he pivoted around on his feet. Valery's brow began to rise, and her pace slowed down a step or two, but one blink of her eyes later, and she was forced to stop, as instinct made her believe she was about to walk right into him. Her fiery gaze met his Amber eyes, and she felt as if he was looking straight into her soul.

"You're super conflicted on this peace time thing,"

"That's right," she replied, her posture straightening a tad as he leaned into her personal space. She wasn't too bothered by it, but it got her eyes to narrow just a little. "The times have changed greatly. I was able to lead the Jedi ever since Tython, but with the war over, it's quite clear that too many don't want to accept the fact that a new threat is already much closer than we should allow them to be. There aren't any significant battles yet, or singular efforts that can change the tide, but it's in the Shadows that our enemies are often the most dangerous." He'd surely know, having witnesses Solipsis' rise within the Alliance itself before the war truly began.

"I tend to be more proactive, and would rather make my move now, while others might be too war-exhausted to even consider it." She then paused for a moment and sighed, "This is the first time in my life where the Jedi are not directly at war yet."