For The Life You Had Known

[Lief]

The Great City of Thainbroek​

Midvinter​

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Though snow had speckled the ground at their arrival, it was not until just now that she truly saw it falling from the skies in great magnitude.

Wrapped in furs which did not belong to her, yet had been so graciously provided, Jyn made her way out from the City which would house them throughout the upcoming process of constructing Stav Kesh in the Northmark and through a faintly trodden path surrounded on all sides by great evergreen trees.

She did not know precisely where it was that her feet were taking her until she saw it with her own two eyes, the frozen lake which sat between her and a stark white tree with leaves as crimson as blood and a face which bled so similar a colour. It was beautiful, even though it held what many might consider a grim visage upon its great trunk, and in so mesmerized a state she made short work of rounding the body of water in order to step in front of it properly.

The Force congregated here so easily. She could feel it in the breeze, sense it as it coursed through the branches and boughs of the tree. It was haunting. It was wonderful.

She sank to her knees there and let out a long sigh. Truth be told Jyn had not expected to see so stark a reminder of her mother here in the City. The High King and Queen were all she had believed would be present, so to look upon [member='Thurion Heavenshield'] and be forced to hold her tongue to refrain from derailing the conversation and dragging up the past was painful, difficult. Somehow she had managed.

But for how much longer could she?

Did he even know he had siblings out there, tied to him through the one known as Asha Seren?

Probably.

At least, he likely knew of [member='Tracyn']'s sons.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Once the meeting with the Je'daii representatives was concluded and a decision was reached, Thurion remained at the Great Hall to catch up with Thyrian and Kära. Despite having lived on the same world for years, his duties often kept him busy in the Westmark where he maintained the king's peace. It was a station he was more than content with, for there was not a single bone in him yearning for the throne; Thyrian had offered to take up their father's throne instead of him, and in truth Thurion could not be more thankful. He now believed it had always been his brother's destiny to rule, just as he believed father knew all along. Thyrian's reign has already lasted longer than the Dawnbringer's, and only grows more prosperous each year.

He also took the time to catch up with [member="Jericho"], his fellow apprentice of Asha's. Naturally, his old friend's reticent demeanour meant it was a relatively short conversation with few embellishments on his side. Their paths had diverged so since they two left the Silent Temple, with both students honouring their mentor in their own ways. There were few others in this galaxy he held in such high regard.

The young woman he was with, however... Everything about her screamed familiarity, as if the distant past had come to haunt him. So when he witnessed [member="Jyn Sol"] wander through the gates of Tháinbroek and into the nearby wilds, Thurion felt the need to confront her. To find out who she really was.

He did not attempt to hide his following her, his heavy footsteps crunching in the fallen snow as he approached her by the grim-looking tree. "The Eyes of Odiir," he broke the silence, audibly announcing his presence. "That's what they call them. The Allfather is said to see all, and it is through these trees he gains such sight." He sidled up to her, eyes fixed on the weeping face etched into the tree. "I have never truly believed their existence," he painfully admitted. "I was raised a Jedi. It is difficult to embrace another set of beliefs when the Force is so prevalent in everything we do..."

 

[Lief]

She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't immediately heard the crunching of snow, not until she had already knelt down before the tree and ceased her own movements. Now that it was all that could be heard, aside from the bracing breeze of course, Jyn reached out through the Force and felt the presence of the Heavenshield man as well as a mixture of odd emotions. He was good at controlling them, they were neither strong or overwhelming or confusing to read, which was truly a testament to him, and a blessing to her. But they were present all the same.

Jyn waited patiently until his own footfalls halted, and only then did she turn somewhat to look at him while he spoke.

Odiir?

The question lingered on her lips, waiting for an interval to ask, but by the end of his introduction to the godsgrove she had figured out what it all meant. Gods... Such a strange concept to Jyn, yet the Valkyri were not alone in their depictions of the Force. Heck, even some Je'daii viewed the Force as a deity.

"Lord Heavenshield," she greeted, bowing her head softly in respect, "Forgive me, I did not mean to encroach on so sacred a place. I wasn't really paying much attention to where my feet were taking me."

Even now she doubted the truth behind what she had discovered concerning this man and her mother. She didn't know why, it wasn't as if she had any real cause to, and if it was the truth then that would be... Good? Right? Maybe... She did not know. He seemed to have his life together out here on Midvinter, it wasn't exactly her place to rock that ship. So close, nothing between them to stop the words from tumbling out, and yet she bit her tongue all the same.

"It's beautiful, in an odd sort of way," she remarked of the bleeding tree, almost to keep her mind off the alternative conversation.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"It's quite alright," he told her with a soft smile. "If the gods did not wish us to set foot here, we would not be here in the first place." No such site existed that did not permit the denizens of this world to tread upon; the shrines to the Valkyri gods were all of nature itself, and all whom wished access would be given it. The benefit of having an entire population share the same religious beliefs was that no-one would ever do anything to harm such sites, after all.

"And you don't have to call me 'lord', Miss Sol. I get enough of that daily as it is," he added with a slight chuckle. By now he had met her gaze, and found it difficult to look away. The similarity was uncanny, it could not be a coincidence. Who was this girl?

"If you don't mind me asking, Jyn," he began, trying to decipher the mystery of the person standing in front of him. "What's your story? How did you come to join the Je'daii, an order thought long gone?"

The more to-the-point question would hold on for now.

[member="Jyn Sol"]​

 

[Lief]

Jyn had been told once already just how similarly she looked to her Mother, and though she did not yet know it that fact was quite the understatement. If ever a daughter looked as their mother had, it was Jyn. The same long, dark hair framed pools of blue for eyes, the structure of her face, the tiny dimples which formed when she smiled, the only difference was her height, which was strange given she was a pure blooded Epicanthix. No doubt attributed to her poor state of life in her formative years, it could stunt anyone's growth.

"I suppose that is true; well then I thank the Gods of your people for allowing an Outlander such as myself to walk among them. If not Lord Heavenshield, then what would you prefer I call you? And please, Jyn will do just fine where I'm concerned."

A gentle smile pulled at her lips, her concerns all but disappearing in the spirit of their present conversation. The chuckle helped. That was until his gaze caught hers, with an intensity she could not quite comprehend, and she found herself unable to look away. His question did not help her cause, of course.

"Me? There's little to tell, really. An orphan pushed from place to place, caught up in the Empire during their height. Don't worry, I was never a Sith... No matter how much they tried to make one out of me. I left at the first chance I got, alongside the man who was to become my Master, we traveled a lot but never really found a place that fit our philosophy. Eventually we were separated, and in my own travels I discovered a key to my past, my parentage. It is... Difficult to explain, unless you've been through it" - and if the rumours were true, he had, though Jyn wasn't even thinking about that right now - "what it's like to discover who you are, who your parents were. That information led me to the Je'daii, or the remnants of the Je'daii. In an attempt to learn more about my parents, I sank deeper into learning about the Order my mother belonged to, and in doing so I discovered that their beliefs mirrored my own. So I set about recreating it from the ground up. It's come a long way in so short a time, truth be told, but there were plenty like me already out there in the Galaxy just waiting for a place to call home."

She blinked for the first time since beginning to speak, and slowly looked away from him with a soft frown.

"Probably sounds silly, when I put it like that, but the Force works in mysterious ways, and I truly believe that this is where I'm meant to be within it."

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

As Jyn proceeded to speak of her upbringing and how she came to choose the life of a Je'daii, Thurion found a seat on a nearby rock after he'd cleared it of snow. He soon found that she might as well have described his own childhood, they were so similar. Only now did he look away, down at his own two feet with a slight frown on his lips.

"It's not silly," he uttered softly once she'd finished. "And I do know." Quietly he scooted over, allowing her room to sit beside him should she wish it. "I wasn't born on this world. I didn't know about these people or me being one of them," he gestured towards the city. "We grew up on a backwater planet called Pelagon over in the Colonies, my brother and I. We were orphans, living on the streets with the constant struggle to keep ourselves fed for the day. Most days we weren't, but my brother always gave me what scraps he did find. There is no person in this world or the next as strong as he, even though he himself does not realise it."

"After he... Well, we got separated eventually. I was seven at the time, but I was not alone for long. Someone came for me, be it through the will of the Force or just happenstance. She was a Jedi Knight of the Republic, and she took me away from it all; all the pain and hardships I've only ever known on Pelagon. To Tython, and later Coruscant. There I began studying to become a Jedi, like her." There was much more, of course. Things he was not eager to recount. "It seems such a fleeting moment, our time together. Yet I remember every day spent with her in vivid detail; the time of day, our activities, how she kept her hair on that particular day. But above all I remember her lessons." The softest of smiles found its way to his lips as said memories came flooding back, yet each held within it sadness as much as it did happiness.

"That woman changed my life - gave me everything that made me the man I am today," he told her, looking straight at her. Again he was struck with just how she resembled her, and so he rose from where he sat and walked a few steps, staring across the lake before them. "My name," he began, slowly turning to face her. "My legal name, if you will... is Thurion Seren. Asha Seren is my mother through adoption. I am her eldest." There was a swelling of pride as he finally spoke her name, as well as revealed his own.

[member="Jyn Sol"]​

 

[Lief]

She could feel the tears begin to burn in the corner of her eyes as he continued to speak.

Jyn was not stupid, nor was she immune to feeling what he was, and the more he spoke of his youth, and the woman who had saved him, the closer they got to the big reveal. They both knew, at this point... That much was obvious, how could it not be? She doubted he followed every stranger to their land around once meetings were concluded. He could have been catching up with Jericho, but instead he was here. With her.

Her heart thumped in her chest. Jyn breathed in slowly, and took a seat beside him on the stone to try and keep herself steady. When his imploring gaze sought out her own she gave in and looked to him, becoming lost within his eyes and the intensity which lay in the air between them. No more bullchit, no more beating around the bush.

"Her eldest, and her luckiest," she whispered, once he had finally said her name and his place within it all. If what Josh said was true then he was the only one who ever actually knew her. He and Kobe were the only ones to meet her beyond birth, but she ran off and got herself killed before Kobe was very old. No... This man was the only one who really knew her.

"I had heard tell that my mother had other children, both borne of her own blood and otherwise. I did not think there was much weight behind that, especially not when it came to the thought of younger siblings. Not when there were others out there without her."

She swallowed back the pain which arose, there was nothing quite like knowing you were the one who had been set aside, and clasped her hands in her lap. The heat which radiated from her in that moment was unnatural, akin to the way a certain King perpetually felt, and it took every ounce of willpower she had to keep the magma from being visible within her veins.

"An older brother, though... Now that I never thought possible... And yet here you are."

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

What she said had his eyes widen and his mouth ever-so-slightly agape. Lucky? It was a word he had never associated himself with - especially when it came to his parents, adoptive or no. Yet this young woman thought so of him. All at once it hit him; the realisation that he was the only one of Asha's children who had truly known her growing up. Kobe was much too young to possibly remember her, save for perhaps a few fleeting moments etched into the back of his mind. Was he still alive, out there somewhere?

Anyone could tell she struggled to maintain composure, Force-sensitive or no, in light of what he had revealed to her. There was something so very special about this girl, other than the fact that she too was a Seren in hiding. But such discoveries would have to wait, for as he slowly walked towards her he could not help but feel tears cloud his vision, and once within reach he promptly put his arms around her and held her close. "I... I have a baby sister," he marveled, resting his chin upon her dark head of hair, barely believing his own words.

Pulling away from their embrace so he could take closer look at her face, he soon broke out into a grin. "I have a baby sister," he repeated with confidence and joy. Holding her in his arms, it felt like a part of him that had remained broken for so long had finally been restored. Placing a kiss upon her forehead, he then looked to the skies above and held her close once more. "Do you think she sees us now, here together?"

[member="Jyn Lorr"]​

 

[Lief]

For a moment she was worried she had offended him.

She did not mean to feel somewhat bitter or jealous, truth be told neither of those things were emotions she was feeling but she knew how easily words like those she had uttered could come off as such. No, it was simply odd to be experiencing this now, twenty-something years into her life, and it was difficult not to comment on it. Evidence of how much love her Mother had to give was staring her right in the face, and she knew that if circumstances had been different she and Thurion would have met each other all those years ago when Jyn was first born.

Alas that was not the way of it.

But he was not angry or offended or even wary, far from it. The moment he stepped within range of her she felt him pull her into his embrace, as warm and welcoming as anyone she had ever known in truth, but then again he was a Valkyri and they were known for being more than generous with affection toward those they knew and cared for. He referred to her as his sister so readily, his baby sister no less, and all of the composure she had been forcing herself to upkeep crumpled away.

She set her head against his chest and fell into his embrace. A sibling... She hadn't had a sibling in so very long. Sure there had been Kyra and Levia but neither of them were people she knew particularly well, she had only met them well into adulthood and both were absent from her life. Jiaa... Jiaa was the last one she remembered being close to, but she had not seen him since leaving Kaas City in her youth. And besides, they were cousins in truth... Not siblings.

Thurion, though?

Thurion was her brother.

"We all become one with the Force when we pass from this life, she is apart of us and as such she must see us, Brother..."

Though it was wrong of her to presume his beliefs. Maybe he thought otherwise. Maybe such thoughts were more correct than her own.

Who knew.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]