Private First steps along the path

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia​

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

Kael Varr never really planned to be where he was at the moment. Living on the streets of Concordia, hunting in the forests just to have a meal and working in the repair yards just to survive, but it was a life. One he had grown accustomed to.
The sense of something ahead of where he was stalking drew his mind back to the present moment. As he crept through the tall grass he tried to get a fix on what his hunter’s instincts were telling him. There were some grazing beasts ahead, that much his eyes were telling him. He had been stalking those in the few hours since daybreak, but now that they were near the tree line a new presence was in the hunt. He sensed it watching from the large trees that made up the dense forest beyond this clearing. A large rodent like animal with claws and spines on its tail. He had heard some of the Wookiee traders tell of this beast though he had thought them limited to Kashyyyk. So this was a Katarn. Kael now has a new target of his hunt. With that decision made her started stalking around the edge of the herd and right up to the tree line. Once he was about 40 meters from the beast he was tracking he pulled out his plasma energy bow, willing the creature to not see him among the grass as he took aim.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

The Force was a cosmic horror.

And sometimes, Adelle felt it poignantly.

She'd been pulled to Concordia, and drawn along through the spaceport and city to the plains and forests beyond like something had tethered itself to her soul. It had happened rare enough when she'd been among the Jedi. It hadn't happened since she left. But if the Force was leading her, she had to follow it still. The Iron Wolves might not be Jedi, but they did not ignore when the Force was trying to say something.

Adelle moved easily through the terrain although it was unfamiliar, her direction unerring. She knew where her destination was and noted that it was not a static location. Her fingers flexed before she started popping the knuckles, the sound muffled by her gauntlet. So she was supposed to meet someone then. How very inconvenient of the Force to send her all the way out here while her target was, more than likely, hunting.

Bright sunlight drifted over her black armor, barely a shine reflected save for where it hit navy blue accents. Today she wore the sigils of clan and profession, and division proudly: Skirata's sigil on her right paulrdon, the red sigil on her left, and the skull and crossed swords of the Iron Wolves on her cuirass. While she didn't hunt, Adelle did keep in mind that whoever she was to meet probably was and did her best to move through the fields with as little disturbance as possible.

She saw movement ahead, a flicker in her mind's eye before her HUD's proximity alert flagged it. A young Togrutan male stalked through the long grasses, an energy bow in his hands, but his attention seemed fixed somewhere other than the herd of grazing herbivores in front of him. Adelle stopped, a far enough distance she could observe, without interrupting his hunt.

The Force whispered, weakly at first but gathered the strength of someone's focus. Directed, not confined to the self. A silent command—I'm not here—aimed at a target. Adelle's eyebrows rose behind her helm. So this was why she was brought out here. She watched him silently raise his bow and take aim at a rodent-tailed lizard, a creature her HUD helpfully identified as a katarn.

Odd, she thought, since her HUD also informed her their native home was Kashyyk. Perhaps she'd have to talk to Itzhal about a potential smuggling operation near Concordia.

The katarn, for its part, seemed oblivious to the two Mandos now observing it. Adelle settled in and waited patiently for the hunter to take his shot before she approached about his training. A lone hunter was better with a pack behind him.

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia​

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

Kael released his shot, but just as he did so, a sense that he was being watched distracted him, and he pulled his shot at the last moment. He was moving before the shot hit the branch under the Katarn, drawing his vibro-machete from sheathes at his belt. Meeting the creature on the ground, he saw that the limb had fallen and had crushed its leg. He quickly used the knife to cut the creature's head, speaking softly to the corpse of the creature. "Ni cuyir ni ceta par ner nibral a gotal'ur a cinyc saca, stitu'dida gar aaray. Gedet'ye udes kar'taylir Ni malyasa'yr hibirar teh ibic bal pirimmur yir Ni liser teh ibic kyr'amur."

Once the creature had been neutralized, he would turn and survey the plains around him. He would crouch low, letting the grass cover him, and would try to sense the presence that now seemed to be tracking him. He cursed the fact that his mask was back at his camp, leaving him with no coms, but it always felt like cheating when he was hunting game. He slowly moved the corpse into the treeline so that he could process it and wait for this mysterious stranger to approach him.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

He had sensed her. Even at this distance, even as focused as he was. His aim had been steady and true. It should have been a clean shot. But it went wide, pulled the shot, as her clanmates said. The Togrutan moved into the treeline to finish off the kill and Adelle sensed an awareness and maybe something like suspicion. She pushed a button on her vambrace and her HUD zoomed back out to let her see at normal range.

Well, no time like the present to introduce herself.

She'd stopped about a klick from the hunter and the treeline, and it wasn't a hard distance for her to cross. The herd of grazing herbivores had scattered and raced away when he had fired the energy bow, so the need for quiet had gone. Adelle didn't hide her presence from him, didn't bother to try and hide her approach. This was about meeting him, after all. It was what the Force had dictated.

About thirty meters from the treeline, she stopped. Mandalorians could be cagey if they felt sufficiently threatened. Or annoyed. Adelle could still remember the absolute beat-down she'd gotten from a clanmate because she'd startled them.

"Su'cuy gar, karoya," she called out, the vocoder of her helm roughing her voice a bit. "Was your hunt successful?"

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia​

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

He had heard her approach, and he started to snap at her. However, he forced his muscles to relax, going through the exercise his founder taught him. The flame, he pictured the flame surrounded by darkness, by empty void. Into this flame he fed all his frustration at spoiling his shot because he had noticed the watcher, for it wasn't her fault. All his anger. After all, anger would not take the shot back. And all his rage, for rage would blind him from what was to be learned from this experience. It was how he had gotten as far as he had after his founder left him. Every hunt, every mechanic job, every day was a chance that Manda gave to him to learn and be tempered like Beskar in a forge.
Once he registered that she had said something, he let his mind fill him in on what he had missed. She was asking if he had a successful hunt. What was success? "Ni ganar ahira kai'tome, a Ni trattok'or at pabida a cinyc kyr'amur. betkr cuyir ner." He would say before looking at the carcass that he would have already started processing. Switching to basic, he would say, "Greetings, Watcher, I'm sorry my first impression was a failed shot. I normally go after the grazers, but when I saw the Katarn also watching them, I knew it didn't belong, so I felt that the Manda had placed it into my path. It was a test, one that I only partially passed." He took in this Watcher a moment before moving to gather his bow and the wet bag in which he had placed the processed carcass, leaving only a bloody patch where he had buried the entrails. "Come, we can talk on the way back to my camp."
As he moved off, he would brush the dirt off his bare paldrons. He had no clan, no rank, no home, as of yet.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

Right, the Manda. She was going to have to use that instead of 'the Force' if she wanted to talk to him about the Iron Wolves.

"Gar bralov cuyir meg gar hibirar," she said. "My first impression was before your shot."

She watched him gather his things, noted the care with which he had taken care of field dressing the kill, and followed him as he began the walk. His armor bore no clan sigil, no division sigil, nothing that marked him as belonging to clan or kin. It would be hard to track him down later if he decided he wanted nothing more to do with her.

"Your approach was most impressive," Adelle said, walking alongside him. Now how did she broach the topic? "Were it not for my own skill with the Manda, I wouldn't have seen you until I was on top of you. Who trained you so well?"

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Tag: Adelle Bastiel


Kael would look strangely at this watcher, "Perhaps my understanding of the Manda is different, as I was taught it was the souls of all the Mandalorians past and present, and those who show honor, courage, and loyalty strengthen the Manda, while treachery, cowardice, and betrayal weaken it. If we die well, then we join the Manda, and if we die dishonorably, then we will be cut off. The Manda places in our path tests and challenges to forge our souls into pure beskar, that the Manda may be as our armor. As to my 'Jivaor va at ni', I found that if I focused hard enough on what I was hunting, they would not see me until I was practically on top of them. I always credited it to my patterning and hunting skills, something I have spent my childhood developing. Yet you speak of the Manda as if it were a vibroknife."

He stops near a large boulder, where he retrieves a hinged mask. Once he had secured the mask, it made a rough approximation to a typical mandolrian helm that made allowances for his montrals and lekku. When he spoke, his vocoder roughened and deepened his voice to make him appear slightly older than his eighteen standard years. "My camp is not far, another click to the north. This is where I started my hunt."

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

Admittedly, Adelle hadn't delved very deep into Mandalorian spiritual beliefs when she'd first been adopted into Clan Skirata. She'd learned enough to name them, recognize which practices belonged to which, but the nuances of each escaped her. The worship of Kad Ha'rangir did not interest her especially, given her history with the Jedi. The Manda, though, she had thought she understood. An Oversoul, or a collective consciousness to which many Mandalorians attributed their Force powers.

"Perhaps it is my ignorance talking, then," she said slowly. "The religions and beliefs of the Mando'ade are many and varied. It has been an adjustment trying to recognize them all. As a Foundling, I do my best to learn where and when I can."

He swept up a helm made to fit around his unique features, the unifying T-shaped visor turning their likenesses into something more similar than different. His camp, he said, lay only a klick away.

"An easy walk, then," Adelle said. She continued alongside him, adjusting her pace to keep up with his slightly longer stride. A comfortable silence settled between them as she contemplated how best to approach him.

"I'll speak plainly," she said after a moment, "and use the language I know best. You have ability with the Force, Karoya. That is why your prey doesn't see you, more so than the skills you've honed. That is how I found you, alone out here in the wilds. I spoke of it as a tool because among the Iron Wolves—" she placed her fingertips on the sigil soldered to her cuirass, "—it is a tool. Powerful, if your skill can be honed."

She gave time for her words to sink in before pressing on. "This may take some time to understand fully, but the galaxy arms itself for war daily. The Core burns from a sudden Empire one day and burns Sith fires the next. Galactic neighbors speak of treaties while attempting to take and hold hostage Mandalorian lives. Every verd needs every weapon they can use. I offer training in a weapon few enough can touch, let alone wield."

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

Kael walked for a while in silence, taking in the things the watcher had said. He glanced at her Beskar'gam, an honor his founder had denied him till he proved he was worthy of donning. He had thought his founder had either abandoned him or that he was not yet worthy enough for his founder to return and take him to be with the rest of the warhost, but could it be that his founder had gone off in this galaxy of chaos and had joined the manda in death, leaving him here, alone and waiting for a reward that would never come had this watcher not found him.

"Watcher, you say you sensed me with this force, that I, too, am gifted with its use. You say the galaxy is in chaos, yet what use is a foundling with no clan, no rank, who knows nothing more than the plains we stand in and the droids and ships he is hired to fix from time to time? You offer me training, yet the one who found me set me to this task of survival five years ago as his way of training, and other than winters closer to the city to work when food is lean, I have had rare contact with other warriors. Am I worthy of such training?" Kael would turn and look to the Watcher, dropping his guard briefly so that she could see the young man beneath the armor, the foundling that was abandoned and forgotten, whether intentionally or not.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

"Am I worthy of such training?"

Adelle stopped in her tracks, her head canted to one side. Confusion was quickly replaced by understanding and righteous anger was hot on its heels. Five years ago, he said. Five. Years. Five years teaching himself what it meant to survive. Five years without clan, friends, family. Five years alone. Where was his Whills-damned founder? Surely no Mandalorian would be so insensitive to their own culture as to abandon a foundling like that. Even as she thought that, Adelle had seen the darker side of Mandalorians from the outside, the darker nature of people. It was, unfortunately, entirely possible that his founder intentionally neglected him.

She hoped, for the Togrutan's sake, that his founder had merely died.

"A foundling that had neither clan nor rank stands before you," she said. "I knew nothing of the Resol'nare, nothing of what it meant to be Mandalorian. I offer you what I was offered. A place in Mandalorian society."

He had opened himself up, she heard it in his voice, read it in his emotions in the Force and in his body language. Adelle reached up and pulled her buy'ce off, giving him a face to read. Her mismatched eyes, a blue right eye and a brown left eye, steadily met his visor, stared through it to his own gaze.

"The Iron Wolves are more than just another branch of the Mandalorian military," she said. "They are packs, familial units, and each Wolf is your brother or sister. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

Adelle offered her hand. "I am Adelle Bastiel of Clan Skirata. On my word as an Iron Wolf, you will not be abandoned again."

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

A clan, a pack, a home, and a teacher who wasnt distant. A teacher who wasn't looking at him as a burden to take care of. Clan Skirata, Iron Wolves, Adelle Bastiel, he now had names that went with the concepts. "I am known as Kael Varr, foundling twice over, and I would be the biggest fool for not taking the hand that has been offered, even if I feel as if I'm too old to be seen as a real foundling."

Kael would lead her to a meager camp. a temporary shelter that looks like it has more patches than the original material. A small fire pit that looks like it was made from a small starfighter's engine parts, and a bedroll next to a fairly crude armor stand. Kael would take the meat and skin out of his wet bag and start prepping the first for drying into rations and the second for curing. "Please, Warrior Bastiel, sit. After I have started this meat on the fire, I can offer you some of my food. It isn't much, but you are a guest in my camp." He served her some stew he quickly heated on the fire, then once she was served, he went to meticulously remove his armor pieces and clean them before putting them on the armor stand. Anyone could easily see that it wasnt beskar'am, but plastoid in the shape of beskar'gam, yet Kael cleaned and maintained it as if it was the real thing.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

Adelle cocked her head as she continued to follow him to his campsite.

"Kael," she said slowly, gently, "I'm a foundling at thirty-two. So unless you are somehow magically gifted with permanent youthful looks, you're a real foundling. Goodness knows I've been waiting for my alor to give me my Verd'goten, but the war with the Diarchy put things on hold."

She hadn't yet had a chance to do more than clean the Owl-type beskar'gam that had been loaned to her yet. The paint had been scratched and the surface even dented in some areas. Bringing a building down on herself with no real exit plan hadn't been her wisest decision. Her durasteel set served her in all other aspects of life. The Mand'alor wanted all of his Mando'ade to return from battle, even if he knew some would not, and he encouraged the wear of beskar when it came to matters of war.

Still, she wanted to feel like she had earned the right to wear it.

His camp, ramshackle as it was, did earn an approving nod. Kael had done what he could with the tools and lessons left to him, with the materials he could find. For someone who had been on their own for five years with no supervision or guidance, Kael had a shelter, a cooking area, and had the skills to reliably feed himself. Adelle sat down on a small crate, watching him move around his camp with familiarity. The boy made a simple stew and she let the silence settle comfortably during the process.

Adelle took the offered bowl, understanding it for the gift it was, and watched as he doffed his armor. Even as inexperienced as she was, she could tell it absolutely wasn't beskar or even durasteel or some other alloy. It lacked weight. Plasteel maybe? Plastoid, even. Kael still cared for it with all the attention anyone else would give beskar.

"Kael, you mentioned having no clan," she said, taking a cautious bite of the stew. Hot and edible, which surprised her for someone who hadn't had anyone teach them how to survive. "We will be heading back to Mandalore, and there are no shortage of clans there that will take you in. But I understand that may be something you don't trust."

She stared at the bowl, wrestling with the words she wanted and didn't want to say. Finally, she set the bowl down beside her and looked at Kael directly. "I offer you mine. My clan. My name."

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

Kael would look at her, "You are a foundling? Yet you have rank, you have a clan, you are an Iron Wolf." Kael looked confused. But after a moment, he closed his eyes, and a calm settled over him. When he met her eyes again, he held her gaze for a full minute as if he was trying to find the catch, the lie, the deceit, and finding none, he nodded. Getting up, he started to take apart his camp, leaving the meat and hide that were drying till the very last.

As he moved around, he spoke. "Tell me of your clan, of the Iron wolves, and of this new Mand'alor that sees his people as individuals rather than little soldiers to spend like credits? I do wish to take your name and join your clan, but being out here alone for five years has left me starving for information and connection." He finished packing everything away, loading everything he had into a hover crate. Five years of his life suddenly looked small and, honestly, wasted.

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

Adelle quirked her brow and gave a confused smile. “Your founder really didn’t tell you anything before leaving you, did they? Your founder should’ve given you a clan. But your heritage, the legacy you come from only sets expectations for you. What you do determines your rank and role.”

He practically leapt up and moved with an urgency around his campsite, gathering things, the possessions he’d managed to acquire, and packed them. Kael’s questions came quick, a need driving them. Adelle picked up the bowl of stew and politely ate until his questions ceased.

“Most of your answers will come in due time,” she said when he finally quieted, placing the last few items in a hover crate. “There are things that are understood, rather than taught. For instance, I can tell you what I know of the Mand’alor and my experience with him, but you will not understand Mand’alor the Iron until you’ve served with him. I can tell you what an Iron Wolf is and does but you won’t understand your place in it until you’re there.”

“I cannot,” she said slowly, “tell you what it is to be part of a clan. That is something you have to experience to know.”

Adelle offered the bowl back to him, stew half-eaten. She had thought of tossing it out since he seemed eager to take off but he had worked hard for the food in it, worked hard to prepare it, and offered it when he had precious little to spare in the first place.

“Mand’alor the Iron,” she said, “came to power at a time when the Mandalorians struggled. He brought stability, strength, something the Mando’ade could rally behind. His word is ironclad and his decisions are made when he’s had the measure of everything involved. He reintroduced the Mandalorian Knights and the Spiritseekers, verd that can use the Force. Aether created them to heal the rift caused by the purges.

“From them came the Iron Wolves. We are Mandalorians first and foremost—Mandalore and the Mando’ade are our first priority, not the philosophical debates of the Sith and Jedi. The Force is a tool and a weapon, and it’s our responsibility to use it wisely.” Adelle shifted on the ruined crate she sat on. “We operate in packs. Usually packs of four. A veteran guides but all are brothers and sisters. All are equal. We answer to the Warmaster, who answers to the Mand’alor. Among the army, we are Rallymasters, leaders of the verde in battle. And that’s not a responsibility to take lightly.”

She grabbed her buy’ce and stood, replacing her helm. “My clan is Skirata. Most of the clan lives in Kyrimorut on Mandalore. If you choose to be part of my clan, that is where you’ll live and train. They are . . . loud. Rough. And they’ll roast you within an inch of your life if they can. But they’ve been loyal. Fiercely so. It wasn’t always like that but the alor follows the Mand’alor. And she rules the clan with a grip like beskar. What she says, goes.”

“If you’re all packed, we can head back to my ship.” Adelle brought up the map of the city closest to them, where she’d landed, and set a waypoint on the spaceport. “When you’re ready.”

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

Kael would look at the bowl offered, take it, and eat the remainder. He let nothing go to waste. Packing the bowl in his crate, he picked up his own mask-like helm and put it on. "So you have a pack of the wolf siblings?" He asked, starting to follow after her. "And from what you have seen, how will the clan and wolves receive me? I know I have been talking a lot, but when I settle in, I'm pretty quiet... at least when there aren't other people around." It was very clear to anyone watching that this young Togruta had no idea how his real personality was due to being alone for so long.

After a moment, Kael would remember himself. He took a deep breath and sought the flame in the void, feeding all his anxiety and nervous energy into the flame, emptying himself so that he could focus on the path ahead of him. "Are there hunting grounds around your clan's hold? It would help if things got too loud or rough."

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

The questions began again as they walked, nerves coloring each one, as he tried to explain himself. Adelle listened patiently, noting the uncertainty that entered his tone and especially taking note when he took a deep breath and quieted the torrent of emotions plaguing him. Good, he already had the discipline to control his emotions, either self-taught or learned from someone.

"The Iron Wolves are small fireteams that help each other grow," she said, setting the pace at a purposeful walk. "As far as accepting you, once you're part of the Pack, you're part of the Pack. That's it. Bonds will form as you take on missions with us but that'll take time.

"As for the clan? The clan is varied. Adoptions and foundlings are nothing new to them. Once you're adopted, that's that. There will be growing pains as people adjust to you and you to them, but the alor is quick to nip anything major in the bud."

Adelle tapped her teeth together as she mulled over what to do about Kael's foundling status. Since he no longer had a founder and she was taking him to Kyrimorut, that probably made her his new founder. Clan Skirata did things differently: foundlings were adopted, as either siblings or children. After Adelle had sworn the Resol'nare to the Mand'alor, she'd been officially—or what passed for official in Mandalorian culture—adopted by Skirata's alor. She'd seen a few others present new members to the matriarch and they'd either adopted their foundlings or the alor did, then and there.

"Kyrimorut is located near mountains and it is not a large town. Wilderness isn't ever far," she said. "Hunting is managed by game wardens but there hasn't been a problem with over-harvesting."

"I will be presenting you to the clan alor," Adelle said. "We don't really do founders, as far as I know. You'll be adopted into the clan and you'll have a choice. Alor Skirata can adopt you herself, in which case you and I would be siblings. Someone else from the clan can adopt you. Or . . . I can."

She glanced over at him, looking at his body language for his reaction. "I warn you, I'm the last of my name. Bastiel. You would have no direct brothers or sisters. Just your . . . buir. Just me."

 

[Kael Varr Basteil Skirata]

Concordia

Tag: Adelle Bastiel

Kael would take a moment to process her words, "So you are saying we would be either siblings, or you would consider me your child?" He waited a moment, then said, "Given the choice, I think I would prefer it if you adopted me. You have already made an imprint on me, and unless you feel like you don't want me to be yours... I wouldn't make you. I know adopting someone as old as I am doesn't come without challenges. I know I am a mess, being orphaned twice over essentially. But I'm eager to prove myself worthy of the name, of your name." He would look over to her. "I never knew my parents; they were taken by slavers when I was young. I lived as an urchin until a warband of Verd came by and drove the slavers off. One of them begrudgingly took me in, and you know the rest."

He walked in silence for a while. "I want to take the Resol'nere, I want to become a member of Clan Skirata, I want to become an Iron Wolf, and most of all, from the instinctual feelings I get from you Adelle Bastiel, I want to prove myself worthy of the effort and responsibility you are taking on."

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Concordia
Tags: Kael Varr Basteil Skirata

He made his choice, although leaving it up to her to veto if she so desired. Adelle listened as he talked about his troubles, the tragedies that brought him to Concordia. Orphaned, twice. It didn't matter how old one got, being orphaned hurt. Adelle had just reached an age where she could cope and not internalize that pain.

She let the silence remain when he stopped. This was a moment no words could be said to help or comfort. And sometimes all that was needed was to be present.

Kael spoke again, more earnestly. His words burned with desire and longing: the Resol'nare, the clan, the Iron Wolves. But under that, his emphatic declaration to be worthy of what she was investing in him told her something else. He saw himself as unworthy.

"So far you haven't taken my offers for granted," she said. "Which makes me think it'll be incredibly difficult for you to prove yourself unworthy of them."

Adelle paused, considering her words. "We'll head for Kyrimorut from here. I will present you to the clan alor and you will have your gai bal manda there, witnessed by clan members. If you still wish to be adopted by me, you will become my ad—my son."

There was a heartbeat's silence.

"I hope you're not allergic to felines."